Warriors of Fate
by RoamingFox
Summary: The second Rock-Leaf war was bloody. Many lost their lives, including the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade. In her dying breath she named her successor, Uzumaki Naruto.
1. Preface

**Summary:**

The second Rock-Leaf war was bloody. Many lost their lives, including the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade. In her dying breath she named her successor, Uzumaki Naruto. Once again the Rock move on Konoha. Does Naruto have the determination to keep Konoha safe from this threat? Does he have the heart to prepare the innocent youth for the harsh realities of war? Does he have the strength to put an end to everything once and for all? And who is going to pick up all the pieces when everything is said and done?

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own Naruto, and all material in this story is owned by it's respective owners.

**Notes:**

This story is AU and based 14 years after the Rookie Nine graduate from the Academy. Some things that happen in cannon have happened in this story, but unless an event is explicitly mentioned, assume that it has not occurred.

There are SEVERAL original characters, so if that isn't your thing, you may wish to stop reading now. Also, this fic is rated M for extreme violence, language, and possible suggestive themes... You've been warned.

This story is going to take a while to get going, so the first bit may be rather dull compared with what I have planed. I hope that the beginning ends up as engaging as it is in my mind, and you stick with it for a few chapters before making a final judgment call.

I'm going to apologize now for any long delays between chapters, but I write as a hobby, but it's not my only hobby. I also refuse to publish anything I don't feel is refined. This, as you can imagine, may cause some rather long delays between chapters, but I don't intend on dropping this story anytime soon.

I've filed this under NaruSaku, as that is the main cannon pairing in this fic, but there are other pairings (both cannon and between original characters).

Speech is mostly in English, but I do use Japanese honorifics. Also, all of the jutsu names will be in Japanese, and will be translated unless it's one of the three fundamental jutsu (bunshin (clone), henge (transformation), kawarimi (replacement)). I do not speak Japanese, so please bear with me if the Japanese version of the names seem a little... well... odd.

**Writing Key**

"Normal Speech"

'_**Thoughts / Mental Conversation'**_

(Translation)

**Konoha Academy Roster**

Given the nature of this story's setting, I think giving you a basic run down of the current academy generation here, prior to the story beginning, will help the story flow a better (lets me avoid having to cram 6 descriptions down your throat in the first chapter :P).

Hyuga Aiko  
Age: 12, Female  
Parents: Hyuga Neji, Tenten (Deceased)  
Description: Small, slender figure. Chocolate brown hair tied back into a pair of short, spiky pig-tails. Milky white eyes. Commonly dresses in a sleeveless, pale violet shirt, with a chain mesh t-shirt, and a pair of flowing violet pants.

Inuzuka Kuma  
Age: 13, Male  
Parents: Inuzuka Hana, Civilian Father  
Description: Stocky build. Wild, unruly, short, light-brown hair. Brown eyes. Wears a gray, fur-lined jacket just like his uncle Kiba's, under which he has a mesh shirt.

Kazuki  
Age: Unknown presumed to be around 12, Male  
Parents: Unknown  
Description: Thin, but well built. Long raven-black hair tied back into a pony-tail ending at his lower back. Wears a black tunic over a mesh undershirt, and a pair of black pants.

Sarutobi Toshi  
Age: 11, Male  
Parents: Kurenai Yuhi, Sarutobi Asuma (Deceased)  
Description: Short, with spiky black hair. Wears typical genin attire similar to Shikamaru's (pre-timeskip).

Yamanaka Kaoru  
Age: 12, Female  
Parents: Yamanaka Ino, Civilian Father  
Description: Tall, slender figure. Long, blond hair kept back in a pony-tail just like her mother's. Dresses in her trademark purple sleeveless dress. Bandages on thighs and forearms.

Umino Nori  
Age: 11, Female  
Parents: Umino Iruka, Ichiraku Ayame  
Description: Athletic. Shoulder length, deep-brown hair that falls straight down, framing her face. Wears a black tank top with a chain mesh t-shirt over it. Also wears a Tan, sleeveless vest with dozens of pockets on it, and black pants.


	2. Graduation! Enter the Konoha Six!

**Chapter 1 - Graduation! Enter the Konoha Six!**

"Alright, alright. Settle down! I still need to take attendance." Shikamaru sighed to himself and muttered under his breath as he surveyed his class. They were just as unruly as they were when he received them almost a year ago. _**'I can't believe that it's been 14 years since we were in those very seats. A lot has changed since then. Hell, Naruto is the Hokage! Then again, Naruto had proven his worth during the Rock War six years ago, hadn't he? What right do I have to worry when Naruto has the backing of everyone? Even Tsunade had endorsed him before she died.'**_

"Umm... sensei? Is everything alright?" A shy voice snapped Shikamaru out of his daydreaming almost as quickly as it had begun.

"Huh? Ya, everything is fine Nori." Shikamaru waved his hand dismissively as he looked down at the timid girl that had broken him out of his thoughts. Her shoulder-length hair framed the concerned look that she had plastered across her face.

"You guys know the drill. I call your name, you say here, we move on. Got it?" Shikamaru barked, unable to stand the noise the class was making any longer. The effect his 'command' voice had on the class was almost immediate.

"That's better. Hyuga Aiko?" He called the name out, but he already knew the answer.

"I'm right here sensei!" A small girl with a pair of deep brown, spiky pigtails shouted from directly in front of him. "You'd have to be blind to miss me!" She stared back at him with a grin. The class burst into laughter as Shikamaru groaned and checked her name off on his list. _**'Like anyone could miss you when you're covered head to toe in violet...'**_

"Yes, yes of course... Sarutobi Toshi?"

Lifting his mass of spiky black hair off his arms he responded "Here sesnei."

Checking the name off on his list, Shikamaru couldn't help but smile at Asuma's child, he was the spitting image of his former sensei.

"Inuzuka Kuma?"

"Here!" The hooded boy in the corner of the room responded almost immediately, followed quickly by a short bark and a growl. "Oh, and Shiromaru is here too!"

Shikamaru nodded at the boy and his snow-white puppy as he continued down his list. "Umino Nori?"

"Here sensei" The shyness in her voice was just as unmistakable as her unassuming nature.

Making a mark, he moved onto the next name, cringing before the words even left his lips. "Yamanaka Kaoru?"

"Here Shikamaru-oniisan!" The girl's long blond ponytail swaying from side to side in the exact same way her mother's always did. _**'She really is just like Ino, right down to that purple dress of hers...'**_ Shikamaru thought to himself.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Kaoru? When you're in my class, you refer to me as sensei, or Shikamaru-sensei, got it?" Shikamaru had to exert a constant effort to not mutter 'Troublesome' under his breath, but if Temari caught wind of it, she'd kill him for sure.

"Sorry sensei."

"Just try not to do it again." Shikamaru marked her off and looked back down at his list.

"Kazuki?"

A quite voice responded from the corner of the room "I'm still here sensei..." It was impossible to read the boy's expression. It was horribly uncharacteristic for Kazuki to look anyone in the eye, and it looked like that wouldn't be changing soon. The boy was focusing intently on the polished wood of his desk as he spoke.

"Of course you are, Kazuki-san." Shikamaru sighed. He felt sorry for the boy, but he was beyond hope. _**'Maybe Naruto will be able to do something about it, but there's certainly nothing I can do at the moment.'**_ He finished calling the names, and then moved back to his desk. "Well, it's been almost a year since you lot became my students, and you know what that means right?"

Almost immediately, Aiko was shouting the answer "It means graduation is coming up!"

"Exactly. In fact, Hokage-sama has pushed the date forward a bit. Your graduation test will be tomorrow." Shikamaru still had a hard time referring to Naruto as Hokage-sama, but he honestly deserved it, the Rock had even issued flee on sight orders during the last war.

The reaction to the news was immediate, and loud. The room filled with an incoherent racket as his students all tried to talk at once. "Settle down!" Shikamaru was forced to yell over them in order to get them to quiet down long enough for him to continue. "I know it's sudden, but most of you are more than ready for the tests, and our ranks are still extremely low from the Rock War. Now in light of the change in date, the Hokage has asked that I give you all one last refresher, and then let you have the afternoon off in order to give you time to prepare."

The cheers from his students at the mention of being let out early were thunderous. "Alright, alright. Quiet. Now who wants to show me how to perform a proper henge no jutsu?"

Toshi's hand was in the air before he had even finished the sentence. _**'The kid sure does love to show off...'**_ Shikamaru thought to himself as he nodded for Toshi to come down and perform the technique.

Toshi focused for a moment, and then performed a series of hand seals and shouted "Henge!" before turning into a near-perfect copy of Shikamaru.

"Good, but you forgot something Toshi." Shikamaru was smirking at the small detail the boy had left out.

"Bwa? I did sensei? What?" Toshi was stammering as he released the transformation, unable to believe that he had missed something. Shikamaru merely pointed to his earing, and watched with a small smile as a look of horror crept across the boy's face.

"You really need to stop and look around more, Toshi. Now who wants to demonstrate the bunshin no jutsu?"

Aiko's hand shot up this time "Oh, pick me!" Her enthusiasm was almost sickening at times, and Shikamaru couldn't help but compare her to a certain blond-haired ninja he'd grown up with.

Before Shikamaru could even agree, a violet blur was vaulting over her desk. He sighed, and nodded for her to perform the technique. Aiko's hands deftly performed the required seals, and after a shout, a pair of identical violet-clad girls were standing in front of him. _**'Well I suppose that's the Hyuga genius at work'**_ he thought to himself as he nodded his approval.

"Well done Aiko. One more and I'll let you guys go, so who wants to show me the kawarimi no Jutsu?"

Kuma's hand was in the air this time. "Sensei, Shiromaru and I have this one down solid!"

"Alright Kuma, let's see it then." Shikamaru was bracing himself for the worst, the boy's control wasn't bad, but it was hardly excellent, and there was no telling if he'd get it right, or send something heavy flying through a wall.

After making the appropriate signs, Kuma and Shiromaru vanished in a puff of smoke, only to be replaced seconds later by the flower pot from the corner of the room, which promptly came crashing to the floor.

"Err... Sorry sensei, but I did the technique right, didn't I?" Kuma was only half worried about the flower pot, and it showed in the broad grin he had plastered on his face from under that hood of his.

"Ya, you did just fine... Alright, class is over. Go enjoy yourselves already." Shikamaru was shaking his head at the broken flower pot as the young shinobi poured out of his classroom. After cleaning up the shards of pottery, Shikamaru left himself to enjoy the rest of the sunny day.

* * *

The sunny day outside had Shikamaru squinting as he left the Academy. He was worried about a few of his students, but he had confidence that they'd get at least two full teams this year. Looking out over the grass of the Academy courtyard, he watched as children ran excitedly over to their parents.

"Well? What do you think of this year's class, Shikamaru?" A voice behind him spoke. He spun around to see the Hokage leaning up against the side of the building. His face was covered by his ceremonial hat, and he was wearing a white coat with a flame motif similar to what the Fourth used to wear. Under the coat he was wearing a black v-neck shirt, which was cut low enough to reveal his mesh under-shirt and the necklace the Fifth had given him. His black pants were held up with a horrifically orange sash with a whirlpool on it. The look was oddly fitting for him given the recent announcement of his heritage as the son of the Fourth.

"Honestly? We may just get two full teams out of this year." Sihkamaru sighed. "I know that's not the number you're looking for, but there just isn't anything more I can do. It's just so... so troublesome."

"Don't let Temari hear you talking like that." Shikamaru could have sworn Naruto was smirking at him from under that hat. "What about him?" Naruto jerked his head towards the tree at the edge of the clearing, where a lone boy was sitting on a rickety old swing.

"Kazuki? I really don't know. He's got amazing potential, but you already knew that. He needs something to fight for. If he stays depressed like that, he's not going to be much use to anyone." Shikamaru sighed as he lit a cigarette.

"Something to fight for, eh?" Okay, now he knew Naruto was smirking. "Well... I'll see what I can do about that." Looking over the rest of the academy students once more, he nodded. "Good work, Shikamaru. It seems you can not be lazy after all."

Shikamaru was about to give the Hokage a piece of his mind, but when he turned to face the man, he was just met with a red and white blur. "Damn it Naruto. I hope you know what you're doing..." Shikamaru sighed, and took a deep drag on his cigarette.

* * *

Aiko sighed as she stared down at the back of the boy's head. His pony-tail was draped down his back and his were eyes rooted to his desk. _**'Kazuki... what is it that saddens you so much?'**_ It was the day of the exam, and everyone seemed worried. Everyone except Kazuki, he just seemed sad. She was broken from her thoughts when her name was called. Aiko put a smile back on her face, and yelled that she was coming.

She opened the door and walked into the small room. Aiko smiled at Shikamaru, and walked over to the desk.

"Alright, Aiko. It's time for your exam." Shikamaru began asking her question after question, which she was easily able to answer. "Good, good, now I need you to demonstrate some techniques for me. Show me the henge no jutsu, bunshin no jutsu, and kawarimi no Jutsu."

Aiko nodded, and began to perform the techniques. She flawlessly performed the replacement and clone techniques, but her transformation technique was horrible. She swore loudly as she looked down at herself. She had tried to copy Shikamaru, and had almost succeeded if it weren't for the fact that she still had her pair of spiky pigtails and was still clad in her trademark violet.

"I'm sorry sensei... I was just distracted."

Shikamaru was laughing at the odd version of himself. "Alright Aiko, that's enough." He tossed her a Konoha forehead protector. "Congratulations, Hyuga Aiko. You are now a genin of Konohagakure. That forehead protector marks you as a representative of Konoha, and I expect you to act like it!"

Aiko jumped in the air as she caught the forehead protector, "Yes sensei, I won't let you down!" Shikamaru just smiled and shook his head at her as she left, and the next student entered.

Shikamaru looked up as he heard the door open again, and sighed when he saw who it was. "Ready, Kazuki?" The boy just nodded, his eyes never leaving the floor. "Alright, let's begin then." Shikamaru rattled off the same set of questions he had been reciting all day. Kazuki answered each as if he was reading from a textbook, his eyes hidden behind his bangs. "Well Kazuki, all that's left is for you to demonstrate the three basic ninjutsu." Shikamaru was a little worried about this part, Kazuki avoided performing jutsu like the plague. _**'Sometimes I wonder why he's even here. No, scratch that. I know why he's here, what I don't know is what he wants to achieve from being here...'**_ Shikamaru was thinking to himself, and was only brought back to reality when he heard Kazuki begin.

Kazuki's transformation was absolutely flawless. Shikamaru had to look at it a few times before he could even tell that he wasn't looking at a mirror. His clone and replacement techniques were no different. He shook his head, it was like looking at a second Naruto. Sure, he wasn't loud, or obnoxious, but he had that same unpredictable nature about him, and that's when it hit him. _**'He's just like Naruto was when we were kids... Maybe not in the same way, but there's a definite similarity.'**_ Shikamaru remembered Naruto talking to him about how Iruka had helped him when he was young, maybe Shikamaru could do something similar for the boy. "Well Kazuki," Shikamaru began, smiling as a plan formed in his mind. "I believe that you, perhaps more than anyone else this year, deserve this." He slid the forehead protector across the desk towards Kazuki. "I think it's about time that you show Konoha what you're capable of. Whatever your ambitions, Kazuki, Konoha is your home now, and we protect our own." Shikamaru was shocked to see Kazuki staring at him with bright, shimmering, pale blue eyes. They were almost silver in the morning light. Shikamaru looked at the boy, he couldn't tell if it was shock or fear that was plastered across his face. _**'Well that has to be better than that mask of sadness that he always wears, right?'**_

Kazuki just nodded at his teacher "Yes, sensei." Kazuki picked up the forehead protector and turned towards the door. Just as he reached it, he heard his teacher call out to him.

"Kazuki? Whatever your goals in life are, I believe in you." Shikamaru knew he was probably overstepping his bounds, but the boy needed some hope. He was rewarded when Kazuki looked back over his shoulder and he saw a weak smile cross his face.

"Thanks sensei" Kazuki nodded, the door softly clicking closed behind him. Shikamaru looked down at Kazuki's file, about to make note of him becoming a genin, but was stopped dead when he looked at the picture. Kazuki had deep green eyes in the photo. Shikamaru was certain the boy who was just in the room was Kazuki, but that didn't explain the change. "Naruto is going to want to hear about this one..." Shikamaru spoke to the stack of papers as he made his notes.

* * *

Aiko walked back to the classroom, grinning from ear to ear, her father was going to be ecstatic, well as ecstatic as he could be, and she just knew her mother would have been proud of her. Aiko opened the door and looked around at the others who had already passed. Kuma was sitting by the window, his coat was open, showing his mesh undershirt, and his hood was down, revealing his unruly mop of short brown hair and his shiny new forehead protector. She continued scanning the room, and noticed Umino Nori sitting in the corner. The girl seemed to simply be amazed that she was in the room at all, and was staring down at the boy two rows in front of her. Aiko followed Nori's gaze down and noticed Sarutobi Toshi staring at the ceiling. _**'No doubt he's day dreaming again'**_ she thought to herself. He really did look like the picture of Asuma that sensei had shown the class, right down to the short spiky black hair.

She bounded up to her usual seat, plopped down, and continued looking around, only to find that only one other person. Yamanaka Kaoru was sitting in the back of the room. She had her long blond pony-tail over her shoulder, and was brushing it idly. Her forehead protector acting as a belt for her sleeveless plum colored dress.

Looking around one last time, Aiko sighed and started gazing out the window. "Looks like it's just the five of us then?" She mumbled to herself.

A voice from behind her brought her out of her thoughts. "Umm... Are you alright Aiko-chan?" Aiko spun around to see who was talking, but that timid voice was unmistakable.

"Ya Nori-chan, I'm fine. I just thought a few more of us would pass, that's all." Aiko sighed and watched as the sun slowly fell in the sky. _**'Maybe it's for the best. Kazuki never really seemed like the ninja type anyway...'**_ She thought to herself, but just as Aiko was going to give up on her thoughts, she heard the door open. Looking up she was stunned at who walked in. The boy's long black bangs were hanging over the sides of his face, obscuring his eyes, but the forehead protector was still predominately displayed. _**'Kazuki?! and he's... smiling? Just what the hell happened in there?'**_

Aiko was almost bouncing up and down with excitement. She was about to go down and congratulate Kazuki, but the door opened again. This time it was Shikamaru.

"Congratulations all of you. You are now all genin of Konoha, and I know you'll do us proud. Now, for your first mission, you are to return here tomorrow morning at nine for your team assignments. Do not be late. Dismissed!" The tone of Shikamaru's voice was unmistakable, it wasn't his usual teacher voice. It was his team captain voice, and you did not mess around when Shikamaru gave you an order.

* * *

Shikamaru opened the door and walked into the meeting room. He placed the stack of files on the table and looked up.

"Well?" The Hokage was still in his white coat, but he had left his hat hanging on the back of his chair.

"Just like I reported earlier, six students passed the exams. Just enough for two full genin teams." Shikamaru looked around and finally noticed the other two people in the room. "... but something tells me you already knew that."

Naruto laughed "Heheh, yes I did have some idea. Now then, let's get down to business, I'd like to get dinner at Ichiraku's before they close for the night."

Aburame Shino had the files in his hand, and was as impassive as ever. "Hokage-sama, I'd like to request my team be Sarutobi Toshi, Umino Nori, and Yamanaka Kaoru." Naruto just stared at him.

"Huh? I would have thought you would have wanted the Hyuga and Inuzuka?" Naruto was slightly confused as Shino raised his eyebrow at him.

"Well, Hokage-sama, with the loss of a sizable amount of our forces in the last war, we're sorely needing a general team in order to complete missions. From what these files say, Toshi has excellent chakra control, and should make a good jutsu specialist. Kaoru has inherited her family's mind techniques, which will make her excellent at infiltration and information gathering. Lastly, Umino Nori seems to be a natural trap specialist, and if she can overcome her shyness, she could become an excellent captain one day. Frankly, Hokage-sama, I feel that I would be able to work with the talents of those three more than the others, even if it would have been... nostalgic."

Naruto was nodding in agreement "Actually, this works out for the best. Sakura-chan, I'd like you to take on Hyuga Aiko, Inuzuka Kuma, and Kazuki."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Sakura sighed, she had read the files on those three. _**'I can't believe he's going to stick me with the loudmouth, the braggart, and the outcast. Getting them to work like a team is going to be hell.'**_

"If you'll excuse me Hokage-sama, I must go prepare for tomorrow." Shino bowed and quickly left the room with his team's files.

"I need to be going as well, Naruto. I've been pulling double shifts for the last week, and Temari is furious with me already for spending so little time with her during her visit. I can't afford to be late getting home again." Naruto smiled as Shikamaru left, but Sakura still looked worried.

"Erm... Hokage-sama?"

Naruto looked up from the file he was reading. "Yes, Sakura-chan?"

"Well, I have no problems teaching Aiko-chan, or Kuma-san, but what am I supposed to do with Kazuki-san? He isn't exactly the embodiment of good teamwork."

"Sakura, Kazuki-kun has amazing potential. He will become a great ninja one day, maybe even greater than me and the Fourth, but he also can't do it like he is now. I need someone I trust to teach him, and with ero-senin and the hag both gone, you're the only one left." The look he was giving her spoke volumes about what he was thinking, and then it hit her like a ton of bricks. _**'Naruto... is he what you were like inside for all those years? I'm so sorry.'**_ She wanted to make everything better for Naruto, but she couldn't. Not now, not with Sasuke's death still weighing heavily on her, so she simply nodded and smiled weekly before leaving Naruto alone.

"You did it once Sakura, you can do it again." Naruto sighed, picked up his hat, and headed out towards Ichiraku's. He really needed some ramen right now.

* * *

It was the day of the team selections, and everyone seemed to be taking it extremely seriously. Toshi had a pair of trench knives on his belt, even Kuma had gotten his family's tattoos. Aiko walked over to her seat for the last time, and sat down. Only then did she notice what was holding the classes attention. In addition to Shikamaru, who was sitting at his desk, there were two other shinobi standing behind him.

The first was a rather stoic looking man who was wearing a gray high-necked shirt, and a full length, hooded trench coat. It was impossible to tell anything at all about him. Between the hight of his shirt, the dark sunglasses, and the tan hood, you couldn't see any of his face, let alone read his expression. As far as she could tell, he was just staring distantly off into space.

The other was an extremely attractive woman with bright pink hair. It was pulled back into a pair of very long pony-tails that reminded Aiko of the late Fifth Hokage. She was wearing a crimson, v-neck, sleeveless shirt that split open just below her navel to show her mesh tank-top, and a tan skirt over a pair of black fitted shorts. She had a larger than normal pack at her waist, and on top of that was what looked like a small kodachi. She was also wearing a pair of black fingerless gloves with a metal plate on the back of each hand. The woman seemed lost in her own thoughts because she didn't seem to care that Aiko was staring at her.

"Alright, let's get this going shall we? I don't need Temari yelling at me again." Shikamaru sighed as he talked to the other two ninja.

Raising his voice he addressed the class "Allow me to introduce this year's two jonin-sensei. Aburame Shino," He motioned to the silent man standing to his left, who nodded his head ever so slightly. "and Haruno Sakura." The pink haired woman smiled and waved.

Shikamaru sat down and sighed "Well I guess that means I'm done. They're all yours." He leaned back in his chair and watched as Shino stepped forward.

"Team 4. Sarutobi Toshi, Yamanaka Kaoru, Umino Nori. You're now part of Team Shino." His voice was almost completely impassive, but he seemed happy, if you could call it that. Toshi, Kaoru, and Nori all stood and walked down to their new sensei. "We're going to head out immediately. I want you to head to training ground five as fast as possible. Go." Shino watched as his new students looked at each other, and then bolted for the door. He turned towards Shikamaru and Sakura and nodded once before turning to follow his team.

"The rest of you, Hyuga Aiko, Inuzuka Kuma, Kazuki, you're now part of Team 6. Unfortunately, I have to take care of something, but I will meet you at training ground seven in one hour. This is your first assignment as Team Sakura. Do not be late." She smiled at them and then vanished in a torrent of cherry blossoms.

* * *

Sakura was staring at the memorial stone. She had a lot to think about, and the death of Sasuke after he tried to attack Konoha was still weighing heavily on her shoulders. She stood there and sighed as she watched the morning light filter through the trees.

"Naruto had to do what he did... Sasuke, no Orochimaru, was going to destroy the village. He had to kill him... There wasn't any other way. The Sasuke we knew died when he left, but... I just... I just can't let go. I wish they had found the body at least..." Tears were welling up in Sakura's eyes, but damn it, she was a ninja and she would not let herself cry.

"I don't know what I'm doing... I want to help. I want to make everything better. I don't want to see another Sasuke. No, I will not allow another Sasuke. If not for his sake, or Naruto's, then for my own. Mother, Father, Shisho, please guide me."

Sakura spun around at the sound of soft clapping. "Ah Sakura-chan, it seems my old habits are rubbing off on you." Kakashi looked at her and gave her what she knew to be a smile, since it was impossible to actually tell if he was smiling or not because of that mask.

"Kakashi-sensei! I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to be here." Sakura was blushing slightly as she realized he had heard everything she had said.

"It's okay Sakura-chan, I just don't want to see you end up like me. Your new team deserves a sensei that can be on time." Kakashi smiled again.

"How did you already know about my team?"

"Ah well, funny thing, that. I was just eating dinner last night, and you wouldn't believe who just sat down next to me at Ichiraku's. The Hokage seemed tense. I couldn't help but pry the information out of him. He may be Hokage, but he's still Naruto."

"That boy could never keep his mouth shut... wait, what time is it?!" Sakura suddenly looked very worried.

"Umm... 9:56" Kakashi said as he pulled out his watch.

"Shit! I'm sorry sensei I'm about to be late, and I can't afford to turn into you!"

Kakashi just watched the pink blur with amusement as she flew across the rooftops.


	3. Of Bells and Cats

**Chapter 2 – Of Bells and Cats**

"Jeez! She said to be here at 10:00. Its 10:15 and she's still not even here yet! I can't believe she told us not to be late, but can't even show up on time herself!" Aiko was practically fuming over having to wait for their sensei on their first day.

"I'm sure she'll be here any minute. She said she had something important to do anyway." Kuma tried to calm down his teammate, but truth be told, he was just as annoyed. He wanted to get started too, and a late start was not what he had in mind.

No sooner than the words had left his mouth, the wind picked up suddenly and a torrent of cherry blossoms appeared between the two of them. "Sorry I'm late. Is everyone here?" Sakura looked around as she picked a few petals out of her hair, but could only find two members of her team. "Where's Kazuki?"

Aiko looked over her shoulder and pointed at the tree a few dozen yards behind her. Sakura followed her gaze, and sure enough, a few branches up, was Kazuki. "Well... Let's go over and say hello, shall we?" Sakura held her arms out in an attempt to herd her team into one spot as she walked over to the huge oak tree.

"Good morning Kazuki-kun, mind coming down and joining us?" Sakura was staring up into the tree, but Kazuki was totally lost in his own thoughts. Kuma could almost see the vein bulging on his sensei's forehead. "I said down! NOW!" Sakura slammed her fist into the trunk causing it to shudder violently and dislodge Kazuki from its branches. "There, now that's better."

Aiko was holding her side laughing as she watched Kazuki brush off dust from his clothes, while Kuma was just staring at their sensei. _**'Man, I really need to remember not to piss her off.'**_ and as if reading his thoughts, Shiromaru whimpered slightly.

"Alright, now that we're all here, let's get to know each other a bit. Let's start with you." Sakura smiled gently and pointed towards Aiko.

"My name is Hyuga Aiko. I like training and helping people. I dislike lectures and boring things like studying. My goal is to become strong enough to help the people I care about." Aiko's voice was almost sing-songy as she rattled off her goals. _**'My god... She's like a Hyuga version of Naruto... What have I gotten myself into?'**_ Sakura inwardly groaned to herself as she pointed to Kuma.

"I'm Inuzuka Kuma. I like fighting and playing with Shiromaru. I dislike people who hurt my friends or mistreat animals. My goal is to become an ANBU like my uncle Kiba." Kuma was scratching his puppy's head as he spoke. Sakura nodded and turned to Kazuki.

"My name is Kazuki. There really isn't a whole lot that I like. I dislike fighting when I don't have to, and seeing people upset. My goal is to find out who I really am." Sakura tried to read his expression, but his bangs were covering his eyes, and he was staring intently at a rock by his feet.

"Well I guess it's my turn now. My name is Haruno Sakura. I like helping people and being useful. I dislike perverts and people who look down on others. My goal is to tell a certain someone my true feelings." _**'Oh god... did I just tell them that?'**_ Sakura blushed slightly "Alright, now that introductions are done, it's time for your test."

"Bwa? Test? I thought we passed already!" Aiko shouted as she spun around to stare at her teacher with a look of horror on her face.

"Yes, Aiko-chan, a test. The test you took at the academy was merely a qualification exam to see if you had what it took to become genin. This test is to ensure that you'll survive being in active duty. If you don't pass this test, you'll be sent back to the academy." Kuma visibly paled and Aiko gulped at Sakura's explanation. "Alright, this is how it's going to work." Sakura began as she set down a small alarm clock on a nearby stump "You'll have exactly one hour to get one of these bells from me." She held up a pair of small silver bells in front of their faces. "If you do not get a bell by the time the alarm goes off, you won't get any lunch."

"What?! How are we all supposed to pass if there's only two bells?" The look of shock and confusion on Kuma's face was priceless, and Sakura had to restrain herself in order to keep herself from laughing. _**'Hah I guess you were right Kakashi-sensei. Threatening them with no lunch really does motivate them.'**_

"You don't. There are three of you, but only two bells. One of you will not get a bell, and thus not pass this test." Sakura gave them a stern glare and shook the bells in front of their faces again. "Oh, and you better come at me with the intent to kill. You won't get them any other way. Now Begin!" Sakura shouted as she jumped backwards into the clearing as she tied the bells to her belt.

"That bell is gonna be mine!" Aiko shouted and charged right after her teacher. "Byakugan!" Aiko lashed out with a palm strike, but Sakura simply grabbed her wrist and parried the attack.

"Ninja art number one: Taijutsu!" Using the momentum of the parry, Sakura spun Aiko around and flicked the back of her head, sending her tumbling across the field. "A shinobi's most basic skill, but it's useless if you're unable to connect."

_**'Alright! She turned her back on us. Time to show her what we can do!'**_ Kuma nodded at Shiromaru before performing a series of hand seals. "Juujin Bunshin! (Beast-Man Clone)" Sakura spun around just in time to see Shiromaru turn into a copy of Kuma and jumped back into a defensive stance.

"Let's see you block this sensei! Shikyaku no Jutsu! (Four Legs Technique)" Kuma's face took on a feral appearance as he dropped down onto all fours. "Gatsuuga! (Dual Piercing Fang)" Kuma and Shiromaru jumped towards their sensei, the vortex around them tore up the ground as they hurtled towards Sakura.

"Ninja art number two: Ninjutsu!" Sakura made a series of blindingly fast seals as she spoke. "Suiton: Suijinheki! (Water Release: Water Encampment Wall)" The river behind them surged, and burst from its banks to form a huge wave between her and Kuma.

"Shit!" Unable to slow his speed, Kuma and Shiromaru slammed face first into the giant wall of water, causing them to be thrown back several yards. Kuma staggered to his feet, dripping from head to toe. Next to him, Shiromaru shook water off of his fur. _**'Damn! This isn't going well at all. At this rate we won't even get one bell'**_ he thought to himself as he looked over his sensei's shoulder to see Aiko stagger back to her feet. _**'Maybe if Aiko distracts her again…'**_

"Ninjutsu can be quite powerful, but it's meaningless if you cannot bypass the enemy's defenses." Sakura had her hands on her knees and was smiling at Kuma.

"Hey Aiko! Try and keep her in one spot will ya?" Kuma yelled out as he began forming hand seals again.

"Sensei! Over here!" Aiko shouted as she charged her teacher once more. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" Four more Aiko's materialized around the original as they charged.

"Tsuuga! (Piercing Fang)" Kuma once again hurtled towards their now distracted sensei.

"Ninja art number three: Genjutsu" Just as her students were about to make contact, Sakura burst into petals causing Kuma to hit Aiko square in the chest and send them both tumbling to the ground. Sakura shimmered back into existence a few yards away from the pair. "A ninja must be able to see what is underneath the underneath. Taking everything at face value will get you killed."

Out of nowhere, Shiromaru jumped Sakura from behind. She turned around just in time to see the puppy bound off towards its master with something silver in its mouth.

A shrill beeping cut across the field, and Sakura turned to face her team. Aiko was on one knee holding her side while Kuma was apologizing profusely for hitting her. Kazuki hadn't moved an inch from where he was at the start. She shook her head and led Kuma and Aiko back over to the tree. Aiko's face was ashen, Sakura could almost see the tears in the young girl's eyes. Kuma, however, was smiling from ear to ear as he held up the bell for her to see. "I guess this means I pass, huh sensei?"

"Yes it does Kuma. Good job." Sakura sighed as she checked her belt for the other bell, her eye's widened when she couldn't find it. She looked back up at her team just in time to see Kazuki flicker slightly. _**'Did he just... no, it couldn't have been. Could it?'**_ Sakura shook her head to clear her mind before speaking again. "Alright... which of you has the second bell?"

Kuma and Aiko looked at each other with looks of confusion on their faces. Then Sakura noticed Kazuki lean over slightly towards Aiko, and Aiko's expression went from one of confusion to one of shock. "Umm sensei? I... umm... I think I do?" Aiko held out her hand, and sitting on her open palm was the second bell. Sakura looked at her team before letting out all the laughter she had been holding in since the start of the test.

"What?! We passed, and now you're laughing at us!" Kuma was shouting at his sensei. "I don't see what's so funny. Aiko and I tried our best out there. I guess Kazuki didn't do anyth..." Kuma was interrupted by Aiko's elbow in his gut.

"I'm sorry Kuma-kun. You _all_ pass. The test was never about getting the bells. It was about your ability to function as a team, and your will to ensure the objective was completed at all costs." Sakura put extra emphasis on her words to ensure they sunk in.

"What? Kazuki too?" Aiko almost yelled, the look on her face clearly portraying her excitement.

"Yes, Kazuki too. Now I want you three to meet me at this restaurant in 30 minutes for lunch. My treat." Sakura smiled at her team as she handed Kuma the directions to the restaurant.

"Yes sensei!" Kuma and Shiromaru jumped into the air at the mention of free food and began heading off like a bullet with Aiko right on his heals.

Sakura put a hand on Kazuki's shoulder to prevent him from leaving. "Mind explaining what you did back there Kazuki-kun?" Sakura tried to keep the confusion out of her voice as she spoke.

"I gave Aiko the second bell. It didn't matter that much if I didn't pass, but she was really upset." Kazuki was staring at his sensei with pale blue eyes, his mouth a thin line.

Sakura nodded at him before continuing "When did you manage to take the bell? You were standing by the tree the whole time."

"No I wasn't. That was a bunshin. When Aiko attacked you the first time, I made a clone and jumped into the tree. Then when Kuma attacked you, I came out and took it when you weren't paying attention." Kazuki noticed the look of confusion on his teachers face "Sometimes...when I try really hard... people don't notice me. It's like they just look right through me."

Sakura watched his eyes shift from pale blue to cobalt to green as she tried to understand just what had happened. "That was a very honorable thing you did, Kazuki. It was also very stupid. You sacrificed your chances for a teammate. That is the true meaning of being a shinobi. However, letting your teammates face an enemy alone was extremely foolish of you. If that was a real fight, they could have been hurt, or even killed! Luckily, it wasn't a real fight. Next time you should fight with your team and not on your own." Sakura patted him on the shoulder before turning towards the direction of the restaurant. "Go meet up with the rest of the team. Tell them I'll be along shortly, I just need to report your test results to the Hokage."

* * *

Sakura smiled and nodded at Naruto's secretary as she walked past. She gently opened the door to the Hokage's office and slipped inside. Naruto was staring out the window with his back to her. "So how did they do, Sakura-chan?"

"Eh? How did you know it was me?"

"You're the only one who never knocks." Naruto turned around and flashed her one of his trademark smiles before sitting at his desk. "Well? How did your team handle the bell test?"

"They passed with flying colors, Hokage-sama. As predicted, Aiko is headstrong and impatient, and Kuma is reckless, but they quickly realized that they stood a much better chance by working together. Kazuki, however, held back, and didn't engage with the rest of this team."  
"I thought you said they all passed?" The confusion in the Hokage's voice was evident as he looked back at Sakura quizzically.

"They did. After the time ran out, I thought they had only gotten one bell, but Kazuki had managed to obtain the second on his own. That, of course, would not have been enough to pass him. However, he gave the bell to Aiko instead of using it himself."

Naruto let out a low whistle "He got one by himself? I don't need to reevaluate your rank, do I Sakura-chan?"

"No Hokage-sama. I have reason to believe that Kazuki has an unrealized kekkei genkai. I saw a bunshin of him standing by the tree away from the battle, but never saw any further action on his part. After questioning him after the exam, it became apparent that he was able to place a high level genjutsu-like effect on himself as well as completely mask his chakra signature. It was by using this ability that he was able to take the second bell without me noticing."

"I see." Naruto nodded at her words. "I want you to keep an eye on it. See if you can learn anything more about it. If you can, try and see if you can help him gain control over it. Here is your team's first assignment. I think some roof construction should help improve their teamwork a bit." He tossed a small binder towards Sakura.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Sakura bowed and turned to leave.

"Oh! I almost forgot! Shizune found this while going through some old medical records." Naruto held up a small crimson colored scroll.

"...Naruto... What is that?" Sakura was staring at the kanji for 'Haruno' on the outside of the scroll.

"Well... none of us have been able to open it, but we have reason to believe that it's a scroll containing the Haruno records. Shizune found it in the back of the area dedicated to kekkei genkai and clan techniques. I have no idea if it will be of any use to you, but as the last surviving Haruno, it's rightfully yours." Naruto slid the small, yet surprisingly heavy, scroll across his desk towards Sakura.

"I... um... Thank you." Sakura picked up the scroll from the desk, hefting it slightly before sliding it into her kunai pouch. "I need to get back to my team..." Sakura turned around and hurried out of the Hokage's office as quickly as possible.

Naruto sighed as he returned his gaze to the view out his window.

* * *

Sakura landed softly just outside the restaurant and walked in, looking around for her team. She found them in the corner chatting with each other, or more precisely, Kuma and Aiko were drilling Kazuki for information on how he had managed to get the second bell. Sakura smiled and sat down with her team.

"Have you ordered yet?" Sakura smiled at them as she set down the small binder on the table.

"Not yet sensei... What's that?" Kuma spoke as he looked at the binder.

"Our first mission. Roof repair." Sakura smirked at the look of abject horror on Aiko's face as the waitress came over and took their orders.

"I know it's not what you were all hoping for, but the Hokage felt that your teamwork could use some improving."

The waitress returned and started setting out plates of food. Dango for Sakura, BBQ for Kuma, ramen for Aiko, and curry for Kazuki. They ate in relative silence as Sakura went over the details of the mission. Apparently, one of the chunin team's practice sessions got out of hand and trashed the roof of one of the interrogation buildings.

"Well, is everyone ready?" Sakura said as she paid for their meal and stood up.

* * *

Sakura's team landed just in front of a pair of women outside of the interrogation building. Mitarashi Anko hadn't changed a bit. She still wore the same trench coat, and was still chewing on that same dango stick. Yamanaka Ino, however, had. In addition to her usual purple attire, she wore a full length black trench coat and chain mail leg and arm warmers. Sakura looked her friend up and down quickly before greeting her.

"You're spending too much time around Ibiki, Ino-chan." Sakura smiled and embraced her long time friend.

"Naruto sent you guys to fix the roof huh?" Ino smiled and returned the hug before motioning to the roof. "Konohamaru got a little excited again. Blew the top right off it. The civilian workers are already mostly done. I think they just need a few extra hands so they can finish up today."

Sakura nodded at her before turning towards her team. "You heard her. Help the civilian workers with whatever they need done. The quicker you get done the quicker you can all go home." Sakura smiled as her team took off towards the roof.

"Well, how are things in the interrogation department Ino-chan?"

"Who would have thought I had such a talent for scrambling brains?" Ino laughed as she looked over her shoulder at Anko. "Well... I guess I did have a good teacher."

"She did learn from one of the best." Anko beamed at the praise. "Maybe I'll go say hi to your new team and leave you two to talk."

"NO!" Sakura panicked. "No, I think that's quite alright."

Anko chuckled at the look of horror plastered across Sakura's face. "Hah! Still traumatized from the first time you met me all those years ago Sakura-chan? Okay, okay, I'll leave them alone. Maybe Ibiki is up for some fun." Anko giggled as she vanished in a swirl of leaves and mesh.

"She hasn't changed at all has she?" Sakura sighed.

"Nope! Not one bit." Ino laughed as she watched her friend's team dart around the roof making repairs.

* * *

Sakura sighed as she flopped down onto the crimson and pink that was her bed, or more precisely, was her parent's bed. It had taken years for her to overcome the loss of her parents, but Tsunade had eventually convinced her to stop living in the past and move back into her family's home.

"Now lets see here..." Sakura pulled the small crimson scroll out of her pouch and tried to pry it open to no avail. "Hmm... Maybe a little chakra." She muttered as she sent a tiny sliver of chakra into the scroll, which promptly hissed and unrolled in her hands to reveal worn paper and words written in a flowing script.

_If you are reading this, then you are one of two people. You are either the current head of the Haruno clan, or there is no longer any clan to speak of, and you are the last remaining Haruno._

_Contained within this scroll is our entire history, from medical records, to techniques, to information regarding the bloodline limit. If you are indeed the last of the Haruno, allow me to apologize for your loss. Know that you come from a great line of ninja, one which must NOT be allowed to fade into the writings of ancient scrolls and the tellings of old stories._

_Learn of your people. Learn your true place in the world._

_~ Haruno Hikaru_

Sakura's hands were trembling as she read the scroll. **_'Clan? Dad was a civilian, and he never mentioned any shinobi in our history. Just what is going on?'_** She pulled out more of the scroll, and sure enough, the familiar storage glyphs began appearing.

"Well let's see just what's inside you." Sakura made a hand sign and muttered 'release' and soon the room was filled with billowing white smoke.

Coughing, Sakura waved her hand to clear her vision, and what she saw shocked her even more deeply than the first scroll had. Dozens upon dozens of boxes littered her room, but the one that drew her attention the most was the small cherry wood chest sitting right in front of her. Curiosity got the best of her as she ran her fingers along the top, tracing the familiar Haruno circle burnt into the fine wood. Fingers trembling, Sakura slowly lifted the top of the ancient box, it's hinges groaning under the stress of age. Inside was a single scroll, just as crimson as the first, but embellished with silver leaf. Slowly, almost as if it might break under her touch, Sakura unrolled the scroll.

_The Haruno bloodline limit, Kichigan (Understanding Eye):_

_Its specific effects vary slightly from person to person, but all grant the user an unnatural awareness of their surroundings. While not as specialized as the other great dojutsu, the kichigan affords its user less of a drawback when used. In especially strong cases, the kichigan can act as a sort of second sight, allowing the user to literally feel their surroundings, even when the ability is not expressly activated._

_Symptoms of the dormant bloodline range from muttering in one's sleep to mild schizophrenia in extreme cases. These symptoms are caused by the brain being unable to handle the additional input from the kekkei genkai, and in turn, shunting them off into a sort of secondary personality. Over time, the brain will learn to block out these extra senses causing the symptoms to vanish by adulthood. This secondary personality affords the user mild protection against genjutsu and compulsion effects due to the user subconsciously shifting the target of the genjutsu onto the secondary personality. This protection, while useful, pales in comparison to the active kekkei genkai, and as such should be awoken as soon as symptoms appear._

_Awakening the kichigan in children is as simple as having the child meditate while another Haruno with the kichigan guides the child towards finding the proper way to interpret what they are feeling. This is the preferred method of awakening as the older the child is, the harder it will be for them to open their mind to the sensation on their own. Upon reaching adulthood it generally becomes impossible to awaken the kichigan. When the symptoms vanish, it is typically a sign that the mind has sealed away the kekkei genkai, and, without the help of a mind-walker, it becomes impossible to unseal. Even with proper guidance and protection, awakening the kichigan in adults is dangerous. Forcing the brain to adapt that quickly to new input can cause everything from constant migraines to full blown insanity._

The remainder of the scroll contained complicated seals and diagrams for the awakening ritual.

Sakura spent the rest of the night pouring over the scrolls, and her new found history.

* * *

"Target in sight. Approximately a quarter mile due south of my current location. Over."

"Good work. Converge on the target's location. Use non-lethal force only. Over and out."

Three blurs quickly approached the bush the target was hiding in. The first shot out of the tree and directly into the bush, causing a small cat to launch out and bolt deeper into the forest. "Shit! I missed. Kuma!" Aiko was hastily trying to pick herself up and get back into the chase.

"On it. Kazuki, It went east. It shouldn't be too far ahead. I can smell it." Kuma and Shiromaru were hot on the trail of the cat as it shot out of the trees and into a small clearing. "Got you now!" Kuma and Shiromaru appeared on either side of the cat, while Aiko showed up behind it, giving the animal only one option. The cat bolted for the opening, only to freeze in mid jump as if it were caught. In fact, that was exactly what had happened. Kazuki slowly shimmered into view holding the terrified feline.

"Sensei, mission accomplished. The target has been apprehended without injury." Kazuki spoke into his radio. His voice was still shaky, unsure of his own abilities, but it was no longer ruling his judgment.

"Excellent work." Skaura dropped down to her team from a nearby tree. "Now let's go return this cat and get some lunch."

Kuma and Aiko cheered at the prospect of free lunch and immediately shot towards the Hokage tower. Sakura patted Kazuki on the shoulder, causing the boy to look up at her with deep blue eyes before they too followed their teammates. It had been three weeks since their first D rank mission, and they were finally coming together as a team.

* * *

"Well done. It took me almost twice as long on my first cat mission. Isn't that right Sakura-chan?" Naruto smiled warmly at the four in front of him as a portly woman in very gaudy clothes left with a rather disgruntled cat clutched to her chest.

"Let's see here... Oh! I've got a farmer just outside of Konoha who needs some help bringing in his harvest, or perhaps you'd rather help the administrators with some paperwork?" Naruto watched with veiled amusement as he visibly saw the frustration rise in Aiko's eyes as he rattled of D rank after D rank.

"NO!" Aiko yelled. "No more. We're ninja, not grunt labor. I can't take it! I need a real mission Naruto-sama!" Aiko was pulling on her pigtails in frustration and staring at the Hokage with pleading eyes.

"Aiko! That is NOT how you address the Hokage. Apologize this instant." Sakura's face matched her hair as she scolded her student.

"Sakura-chan, it's alright." Naruto watched her head swivel like an owl and lock her gaze on his.

"No, it's not alright. You're the Hokage! She can't just... I can't..." Sakura stammered, clearly upset. She wouldn't even look Naruto in the eyes as her face turned a deep crimson. **_'Oh god... You really are the Hokage, aren't you? What am I doing? How can I think you wouldn't change... How could I think you'd wait all these years...'_**

"Sakura-chan. I said it was alright." Naruto hated the tone he had to use, but he couldn't help it. She just wasn't thinking straight for some reason. "Sakura, could you wait outside for a moment. I would like a moment with your team. It won't take long, I promise."

Sakura just nodded and walked out of the office, her bangs covering her eyes, and her face almost fire engine red.

"Alright. Now that you can speak freely, I'd like you to explain why you just said what you said." Naruto smirked, the whole situation seemed oddly familiar.

"I...umm...well... We can DO this! I KNOW we can do this. We're not going to get any stronger catching cats. I... I... I want to get stronger." Aiko was staring at the floor now.

"And why do you want to be stronger?" Naruto knew he was prying, but he had to be sure before he did anything.

"I want to protect my friends!" Aiko nearly screamed at him, her eyes filled with tears. "I can't let anything happen to them. I won't." Aiko looked to either side at her teammates before continuing. "I... I've always been alone since Mom died. I can't lose them too." She sniffled as she finished her rant. Naruto was suddenly standing in front of her holding her to him.

"It's okay Aiko-chan. I understand. Believe me, I do." Naruto spoke in soft whispers as he gently calmed the girl down. "What about you two? Do you agree with your teammate?"

"Damn right we do!" Kuma shouted as Shiromaru barked in agreement.

"Naruto-sama... I... I... don't want to lose my friends. They're the only ones I have." Kazuki's words were barely above a whisper, but they were easily heard in the quiet that had settled in the room.

Naruto was simply floored. He'd never seen that kind of determination from the boy before, let alone ever hearing him call anyone his friend.

"Alright then. I want you three to rest up and come back in a couple days. I'll have your mission ready then. Send your sensei in on your way out."

He watched as Sakura's team left and she walked in herself, no longer blushing, but still hiding her gaze behind her bangs.

"Sakura-chan... I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of your team. I'm sorry,"

Sakura just nodded and refused to meet his gaze.

"Sakura, you've done an amazing job with your team. That's why I'm going to be giving them a C rank escort mission." Naruto smiled.

Sakura's head snapped up, her eyes locked onto his. She still had tears dripping down her cheeks.

"...Sakura...chan? What's the matter?" Naruto immediately realized it wasn't embarrassment that had upset her, but something else. _**'What did I do this time...'**_

"I... It wasn't them... I... I just realized something, that's all. Forgive me for acting out, Hokage-sama." Sakura bowed deeply. Naruto just looked even more confused.

"If you say so Sakura-chan. Go get some rest, you look like you need it. I'll see you in a few days."

Sakura nodded and slowly left Naruto's office before her composure broke down once again _**'...I... I realized that I love you, Naruto-kun.'**_

* * *

Sakura had a lot of thinking to do. She had heard everything that was said in the Hokage's office earlier that day, and she had made up her mind. She needed to get stronger too. Not just for her sake, but for her team, and her village. Sakura sat down on her bed and began brushing her hair, letting her gaze wander over the neat stacks of boxes she new contained her family's entire history.

As her gaze drifted, it slowly came to rest on one of those boxes in particular; the one with the scroll pertaining to her family's kekkei genkai. _**'... without the help of a mind-walker, it becomes impossible to unseal.'**_

"INO!" she stood bolt upright. "I'm so stupid. The answer's been staring me right in the face!"

Sakura grabbed the latch to her window and threw it open before following it out herself, her unrestrained hair billowing out behind her.

* * *

"Sakura?! What are you doing here at this hour? What happened to your hair?" Ino was shocked, to say the least, to see her best friend slam into the ground in a curtain of pink not five feet from her as she locked up the interrogation building for the night.

"Ino... I... need... your help. It's important. And what's wrong with my hair?! I just didn't have time to put it back into pony-tails, alright?!" Sakura had to take a minute to catch her breath while Ino just stared back at her.

"Alright Sakura... and I didn't mean anything about your hair. Actually, I think it rather suits you." Ino laughed.

"Really? Not very practical like this though... Maybe when I'm not on missions." Sakura was looking over her own shoulder at her mass of pink hair. She suddenly shook her head, sending the mass of pink swaying back and forth. "Bah... See what you've done? You got me distracted. Come on Ino, this is important. I'll explain when we get to my place."

Sakura didn't even wait for a confirmation before launching herself back towards her home.

* * *

"Woah! What is all this Sakura?" Ino let out a low whistle at all the boxes piled up in Sakura's bedroom.

"It's my family's history. Medical records. Ninjutsu. Genjtusu. Kekkei genkai. Everything."

"Wait wait wait... Back up a second. Did you say kekkei genkai? I thought your dad was a civilian?!"

"He was... Apparently my father's ancestor's weren't though." Sakura pulled the original scroll Naruto gave her off her bed-side dresser. She opened it enough to show her the signature at the bottom of the scroll. "Haruno Hikaru. He's my great great great great great grandfather, or something like that."

Ino took another look around the room "All these boxes huh? Just where did they all come from, and why am I only just finding out about this now? Ino had gone into 'interrogation mode', and wasn't going to let up until she got her answers.

"I... They came from that scroll I just showed you... The Hokage..."

"Naruto. Come on, say it with me. Nah-ru-toe" Ino had just about enough of Sakura's bashfulness around Naruto now that she was finally seeing the poor guy for who he is rather than just something between her and Sasuke. _**'I'm glad she finally figured it out, but she's turning into Hinata!'**_

"Naruto...gave it to me... I guess Shizune found it way in the back of the archives behind some old scrolls in the clan section." Sakura blushed at Ino's forwardness, but inwardly thanked her friend.

"Oh? That doesn't answer why I'm just finding out that my best friend has had an absolutely major change to her life weeks after it happened."

"I... I'm sorry, Ino. It's just been a lot to take in. Forgive me?" Sakura's voice was small, and quiet. _**'What the hell is going on with me lately. Bad Sakura. Back to normal. Now!'**_

"Forgiven. Now what was it that was so important?" Ino smiled at the concerned look on Sakura's face.

"I...umm...well... I want you to walk my mind. I can't awaken my kekkei genkai normally anymore. I'm too old. The only way left is to have someone go inside my mind, and guide me to wherever the hell it's sealed itself up and open it from the inside out."

"Sakura... Do you know what you're asking? That's extremely dangerous. You could be hurt, or worse die!"

"I... I know, Ino, but I need to do this. I need to become even stronger. For Naruto's sake. For the village's sake." Sakura had to turn her face away from her friend to hide the beginnings of a fresh batch of waterworks.

"Alright Sakura. Come here. Sit across from me. Ya, just like that." Ino instructed Sakura to sit across from her on the bed, their knees touching. "Are you ready Sakura? This could take a very long time."

Sakura nodded, and Ino delved into her friend's mind.

* * *

**A/N:**

Sorry if this chapter reads a little bit like a text book. I'm still trying to jam a bunch of information down your throats so we can get on with the real story. Speaking of the story, most of the prologue is now out of the way, and the 'real' story should be beginning a little ways into the next chapter. Coincidently, this also means that the update rate of this story should become a tad bit more frequent (I'm HORRIBLE at writing introductions and backgrounds, but sadly due to the setting of this story a rather long one was needed.)

For those of you who are gonna harp on me about giving Sakura a bloodline, just hold it in for a bit. I promise it's not going to make the story go all DBZ. It's more of a plot point to help get Sakura thinking straight, and to help counter Kazuki's naturally reserved nature. XD

Anyway, next chapter is already in progress, shouldn't be quite as long of a wait as this one was.


	4. Adventure in the Land of Tea

**Chapter 3 – Adventure in the Land of Tea**

Sakura shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts as she stood up and looked around. Row after row of cherry trees surrounded them for as far as the eye could see, their petals falling down like a strange pink snowstorm.

"Whoa... Sakura... You're mind is so... pink." Ino giggled as she helped her friend to her feet.

"Shove it Ino-pig. We came here for a reason, remember?" Sakura glared at Ino for a moment before looking around.

"Sure thing, Forehead. So which way?" Ino looked around, but couldn't see past the mass of petals that were cascading down around them.

"You're the mind-walker. Aren't you supposed to tell me that?"

"It's your mind. I'm just here to help. Sometimes it's pretty obvious. Come on, let's look around. You tell me if you see anything that doesn't feel right."

"Alright" Sakura nodded and began walking through the grove of trees with Ino right on her heals.

After what felt like hours of walking, they finally stumbled upon a small, run down, stone temple. "There! That's definitely not something I'd think about." Sakura pointed through the storm of petals towards the building.

"This is it." Ino nodded in agreement and moved towards the structure.

The small building looked as if it were going to fall down at any moment. Large sections of what were probably once magnificent sculptures laid about their feet in ruin. Inside, the small building was completely barren, with one notable exception, in the center of the floor was the beginning of a very small, very dark, stairwell.

"Well, what are you waiting for Sakura? Get going." Ino nudged her friend, not wanting to be the first one to enter what she knew to be Sakura's subconscious mind. _**'Knowing her, I'll get attacked or something just for being here...'**_ Sakura nodded and began her decent into the deepest reaches of her mind.

* * *

The further they walked, the darker it got, and the darker it got, the more they felt like they were seeing things. It started small, with shadows in the darkness, then flashes of color, and finally figures.

"Sakura? Did you just see..." Ino's voice was shaky as she spoke. She'd been doing stuff like this since she was a small child, but this time it felt different, almost as if something was going to reach out of the darkness and drag her away forever.

"Naruto? Yes, I did. What does that mean?" Sakura nodded without turning to face her friend.

"I'm... I'm not really one hundred percent sure. Usually you need to focus your thoughts to see anything. It's almost as if your subconscious is trying to force you to remember things..." Ino's voice trailed off as full blown memories started to play themselves out before the pair of them.

It was one of Konoha's streets at night. A lone boy with raven black hair was slowly walking down the road. A small child with startling pink hair ran up to the boy, embracing him from behind.

"You can't go... You... You can't just leave..." The girl sobbed into the back of the boy's shirt. The boy slowly turned around, showing his face to the two observers for the first time and they both let out simultaneous gasps. They were expecting the boy to be Sasuke, but his face was clearly Naruto's.

As quickly as the vision came, it faded back into the darkness, only to be replaced by another, much bloodier one. Bodies littered the ground, kunai stuck into both earth and corpse alike. The grass Sakura knew to be green was stained red with blood. It was a battlefield, and not just any battlefield, it was the last battle of the second Rock-Leaf war; the battle Tsunade had died to win. Sakura turned around, trying to go back up the stairs.

"I...I... I can't do this Ino." Sakura's voice was small, like a child asking her mother to make sure the monster wasn't still in her closet.

"You have to. This is where you would have bottled up anything you couldn't understand. If you want to find your kekkei genkai, you need to face this." Ino put her hands on her friend's shoulders and turned her back around, gently urging her deeper into the darkness.

And so they continued. Every step they took down the stairs was a step deeper into the gory scene before them. Then they reached the moment Sakura was dreading. They had come across Tsunade's still warm body, or rather what was left of it. Her torso was impaled by several large spikes of rock, and her left leg was completely missing. Kunai were embedded in both her right shoulder, and left forearm, further pinning her to the stone. Sakura tried to look away, tried to force the memory to just go back to wherever she had crammed it the first time, but it continued unhindered.

"Sakura... make... make sure... Naruto... Hokage..." Tsunade's dying breath sent chills down their spines as, once again, everything faded to black.

Then the next vision came, a lone man stood in a field of tall grass, his white cloak swaying in the wind. His blond hair held in check by a long, thin, strip of black cloth tied around his forehead. Another figure came into view as they continued their descent. This one fully obscured in black robes.

Sakura shook her head and closed her eyes. She tried to block out what she knew was coming, but it did no good.

"No... Not this... Anything but this..." Sakura whimpered, and tried once again to retreat back the way she came, away from her most recent recurring nightmare, only to find Ino's comforting hands on her back, urging her forward.

The cloaked figure held out his arms as hundreds of snakes poured forth from under his robes. They rocketed towards Naruto, hissing and spitting, seeking out his flesh. Sakura covered her ears in an attempt to block out the sound of his screams as fang after fang sunk into his body, but it did little good.

Just as Sakura felt that she could take no more, the darkness lifted, and the stairs evened out into a hallway. Soon after, the hallway opened up into a large circular room. The chamber was ringed with torches, but they served to merely drive the darkness back, as if they could not completely banish it from the room. In the center of the chamber was a raised dais, and upon the platform stood a magnificent set of stone doors.

"Ino, I think this is it." Sakura slowly approached the doors, inspecting them closely. _**'This has to be it. It just has to be...'**_

"Are you sure?" Ino was looking at the doors curiously as she spoke.

"Ya. I recognize some of these designs." Sakura comforted her friend as she continued to examine the area. Carved into the floor of the platform was the diagram that Sakura had seen on the scroll that contained the information on her kekkei genkai.

"Here." Sakura stopped in front of the doors, on the side opposite from the one they came in on, and sat down in the middle of an extremely complex looking set of glyphs and designs.

"I don't know what to do from here Sakura. You're on your own." Ino looked around nervously before stepping off of the dais, not wanting to get caught up in whatever it was that Sakura was going to do.

"It's okay. I think I understand now." Sakura closed her eyes, and began to meditate.

* * *

Ino paced back and forth behind Sakura nervously. She had been meditating in that same exact spot for hours now, and Ino was starting to get worried that something was wrong. Just as she resigned herself to make sure Sakura was alright, the glyphs on the dais lit up, giving off an eerie white light, followed shortly thereafter by the glyphs on the doors themselves.

"Sakura?" Ino tried to look away, but found that she could not tear her gaze from the light. She was completely mesmerized by the shimmering colors that had begun to appear. A loud crack cut through the air like lightning as the dais shuddered and groaned under some invisible strain. Thick pieces of rock began to fall from the ceiling as the lights around Sakura and the doors intensified. _**'Shit! She's going to bring her whole subconscious mind down on us!'**_

Ino lunged at her friend, intent on pushing her out of the circle, when the doors finally gave way and swung open. The entire room erupted in a searing white light as Ino was flung back the way she had came.

Suddenly, Ino found herself tumbling across the back of Sakura's bed. The sheer power of whatever the hell just happened had forcibly severed the mind link she had had with her friend. Groaning, Ino slowly untangled herself and looked up at her friend. Sakura was still sitting cross-legged on her bed. Her head was limp, and her bangs were covering her eyes.

"Sakura? Hey, Forehead... You okay?" Ino slowly crawled to the edge of the bed, and gently nudged her friend in the shoulder.

"Ugh... I've got one hell of a headache..." Sakura groaned as she lifted her head up and opened her eyes.

"Sakura! What the hell happened to your eyes?!" Ino screamed in shock and fell back off the bed.

"What? What's wrong with my eyes?" Sakura quickly scrambled for the mirror she kept on her nightstand.

"Oh my god..." Staring back at her was herself, but those certainly weren't her eyes. Her irises had split in two, a ring of pure white separating two rings of jade in each eye. The green rings slowly revolving in opposite directions around each of her pupils.

Sakura blinked a few times in disbelief, and slowly the white ring faded back to sea foam green, and her eyes returned to normal. "That... was odd." Sakura was still staring at the mirror, unable to fully grasp what she just saw.

"Does that mean it worked?" Ino had crawled back up onto the bed next to her friend.

"I think so..."

* * *

Light streamed through Sakura's window, casting a thick band across her face.

"Oh man..." Sakura groaned as she slowly pulled herself out from between her sheets. She was still dressed in her clothes from last night, having passed out from the pain in her head shortly after Ino had left.

"SHIT!" Sakura yelled as she flung her alarm clock across her room, 11:24 flashing briefly on the screen before it shattered against the wall. Sakura bolted out from bed and flung herself out of her window, her morning routine completely forgotten in her panic. She was late... again.

* * *

Aiko, Kuma, and Kazuki stood at attention in front of the Hokage, who was pacing back and forth behind his desk. His face was set in a hard line and he was running his hands through his hair subconsciously. _**'Sakura-chan is never late... Ino mentioned something about her activating her kekkei genkai last night, but she didn't seem that worried about Sakura's health... What the hell is going on?'**_

The doors to Naruto's office burst open and a disheveled mass of pink and crimson rushed in. Her hair was tangled, sticking out at strange angles, and lacked her trademark pigtails. Her clothes were wrinkled and twisted oddly about her body as if she had tossed and turned in them all night. "Sakura? What the hell happened to you?" Naruto's mouth was hanging open in shock, he'd only seen her like this once before, and it had been almost fourteen years ago when Sasuke had left the village.

"Shut it, Naruto. I am NOT in the mood." Sakura huffed before immediately turning the same shade of pink as her hair.

Naruto gave her a quizzical look before deciding not to press the issue. _**'Last time she was like this, she put two people in the hospital... Probably not a good idea to keep poking her, or I'm going to end up dead.'**_

"Anyway... Team 6, your mission is to escort a messenger from the Land of Tea back to his village. His village has been getting raided by some bandits for the last couple weeks, and apparently the damage they've caused is getting rather high. Kenta-san will be taking supplies with him in order to help with repairs. In addition to protecting both Kenta-san and his cargo, you're to help him with fixing up the damage that was caused. Also, they're afraid that any overt presence by us might spark further attacks, so you're to stay undercover if at all possible. That means civilian clothes, and don't use any flashy techniques unless you absolutely have to. Also, as much as I hate it, that means that you'll need to not wear your forehead protectors in public. Any questions?"

The three genin shook their heads, while Sakura just stared at the wall to Naruto's left. _**'Damn it! Why can I only talk to him when I'm mad?'**_

"Good. You've got an hour to prepare before you'll need to meet Kenta-san at the south gate. This is a fairly long term mission; expect to be gone for about two weeks. Dismissed."

The four turned to leave, Sakura lagging slightly behind her team as she reached the door. "Sakura, could you hold on for just a second." Naruto's voice echoed through the room as Sakura turned around. _**'He's worried about me? Wait, how do I know that?'**_

"Sakura, I have a bad feeling about this one. I'm reasonably sure it's nothing, but in case it isn't, be on your guard. You're free to handle the situation yourself if it's just bandits, but if you encounter ninja you're to return to Konoha and we'll send a chunin team." Naruto had begun staring out of the window behind his desk as he spoke.

"Of course, Hokage-sama." Sakura was staring at the back of his head. _**'He IS worried. Was that my kekkei genkai telling me that? Damn it, I'm getting another headache...'**_

"Don't get yourself killed Sakura-chan. I know about your kekkei genkai... Ino told me about last night. Don't push yourself. I'm counting on you coming back home, got it?" Naruto still had his back to her, but the worry in his voice was as plain as his hair was blond.

"Don't worry... I will Naruto." Sakura nodded once before leaving him to his thoughts. She immediately booked it for her house once she was out of the Hokage Tower.

* * *

Sakura landed softly behind her team as they hurried around to help a middle-aged man with short gray hair check over the contents of several stacks of supplies. The white shirt he wore was adorned simply with three light green tea leaves.

Sakura was wearing a maroon turtleneck shirt and a knee-length black pleated skirt, her ninja attire and forehead protector safely packed away in a storage scroll in the bottom of the black and red messenger bag she had slung over her shoulder. Her hair had been temporarily dyed black and was pulled back into a single long pony-tail instead of her usual two in order to further hide her identity. While it was enough for the genin to just change clothes, she had gained too much of a reputation to go prancing about with her normal hair.

"Sensei? Is that you?" Aiko was pointing at her, her mouth hanging open. She had simply switched into a black and violet track suit, and had a backpack by her side. Upon hearing the shock in their teammate's voice, Kazuki and Kuma turned to see what was going on. Kazuki was wearing a simple black shirt with a white wolf motif on it, and a pair of black jeans. Kuma had just opted to hide his forehead protector and swapped out his coat for one without the leaf insignia on it.

"Yes Aiko, it's me. Unlike you three, I have a rather large reputation outside of the village. Just having pink hair would have given me away, so I had to take some more drastic measures."

Kuma finally realized that the woman in front of him was his sensei and let out a low whistle, which promptly earned him a flick to the forehead, sending him flying to the ground.

"Did you say pink hair?" The gray-haired man had walked up during their discussion to see what was going on.

"I did. My name is Haruno Sakura, captain of Team 6. We'll be escorting you back to the Land of Tea." Sakura bowed formally.

"I can't believe the Hokage is sending Konoha's Pink Rose on such a simple mission on my behalf. I'm honored. My name is Kenta." Kenta bowed before holding his hand out for Sakura to shake.

"Pink rose? What kind of nickname is that?" Kuma had staggered back to his feet only to be shot back into a small fruit stand by Sakura.

"Do I need to elaborate on how I got the name?" Sakura was suddenly standing over him, the vein on her forehead bulging slightly as she pulled a kunai out of god knows where.

"Erm... No, no that's alright. I'm sorry sensei." Kuma bowed deeply to Sakura and the owner of the fruit stand after being hauled back up to his feet. Shiromaru growled at his master before jumping up into Aiko's arms, causing Kuma to mutter 'traitor' under his breath.

* * *

"Alright, that's enough messing around. You've all packed everything you need correct?" Sakura was busy sealing all of the Kenta's supplies inside of a scroll, as her team all nodded at her question.

"Well then, I guess we're set to go when you are, Kenta-san." Sakura tossed him the scroll that she had just sealed several hundred pounds of supplies into.

"Alright, let's camp here for tonight." Sakura had stopped in a small clearing after moving all day. They hadn't even stopped for lunch, opting instead to eat on the go. As such, they had made good time, and would reach the border in three more days. "Kuma, could you and Kazuki go get some wood for a fie please? Aiko, see if you can spot a river or something and refill our canteens."

As the three went off to see to their appointed tasks, Sakura sighed and sat down.

"So... Why exactly is Konoha's Pink Rose stuck babysitting a group of children?" Kenta spoke as he sat down next to the rosette.

"The Hokage felt that it would help me 'open up.' After the last war, well, let's just say I wasn't exactly pleasant all the time." Sakura sighed.

"Oh... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to dredge up old memories."

"No, it's alright. Honestly, he was right. I did need something to take my mind off of the war. I had just gotten over the loss of my parents, and then I lost the woman who was like a grandmother to me. Helping those three kids was the best thing to happen to me since. If it weren't for them I'd probably be curled up in a ball someplace."

Kuma and Kazuki returned with wood, and immediately set to work on building a small fire. Aiko returned a short while later with all of their canteens filled. Sakura just sat by the fire, her head in her hands, as she thought about everything that had happened over the last few years.

"Here... You look stressed out. This should help." Kenta sat down next to her with a steaming cup of tea in his hands.

"Oh, thank you." Sakura took the cup in her hands and inhaled the aroma deeply before taking a long sip. "Wow... This is amazing. I think I feel better already." She downed the remainder of the tea and returned the cup.

"I thought as much." Kenta smiled as he returned the cup to his bag.

* * *

The next three days passed in a blur of trees and dirt. The cool night air crisp and clean as they climbed the hill that would afford them their first look at Kenta's village.

"Kenta-san... It's gorgeous. Why would anyone want to destroy it?" Aiko called over her shoulder as she looked down at his village. It wasn't large, but every building it did have practically screamed of the care and devotion that had gone into it's construction. All around the small group of buildings were tea fields, and even at this late hour people were tending to them to ensure the tea produced would be the very best. Set off from the village a small ways was what looked like a very well maintained shrine or temple.

"Some people don't believe in honest work. They instead seek to benefit off other's progress. Anyway, let's get going... All this traveling has left me with a rather severe need for my own bed." Kenta smiled warmly at the girl as he moved to the crest of the hill.

Kuma sniffed the air as he looked over to the village "Sensei... Do you smell that? It smells like smoke."

Sakura held her hand out to prevent anyone from moving forward and nodded. Just then the shrine by the village burst into flames, bathing the entire area in a cold glow.

"Aiko. Kuma. Kazuki. Stay with Kenta. Make sure he gets to the village safely. When you get there, get as many people as you can to help. I'll meet you at the shrine. Go!" Sakura brought her hands up into a quick series of hand seals before vanishing in a torrent of petals.

* * *

Sakura appeared in the middle of a group of frantic shrine maidens in a huge torrent of cherry blossoms, her hands already forming a long chain of hand seals as petals swirled frantically outward from her body. "Suiton: Totsuzen Doshaburi! (Water Release: Sudden Downpour)" The once clear sky immediately filled with dense dark clouds as all the surrounding water condensed into one location before hurtling back towards the ground in a torrential rain, leaving the building smoldering slightly, but otherwise unharmed.

Sakura snapped her head to the right, her sopping wet hair flinging around behind her, leaving a trail of washed out dye in its wake. A rather large blur shot through the steam and smoke before making a sudden turn as it charged right towards her. She jumped to the side just as a huge sphere of rock hurtled past, followed quickly by a rather large, muscled, bald man. He was shirtless, just wearing simple brown pants held up by a belt with the Rock Village insignia on it.

"Iwa? Here? What the hell is going on?" Sakura punched a second boulder that was sent her way, causing it to shatter into harmless dust.

"Oh ho. Konoha's Pink Rose, eh? You killed my brother in the last war, bitch. It's time I returned the favor. Doton: Doryuu Taiga! (Earth Release: Earth Flow River)"

The ground suddenly liquefied around Sakura's feet as it shifted from slightly damp soil to a river of mud, but her reactions were faster. She quickly flung herself backwards, vaulting off of a nearby railing and swinging herself back around one of the shrine's supporting columns. Sakura's hands were a blur of hand seals as she flung back towards the rock nin, her jutsu completing at the end of a mid-air somersault.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu! (Water Release: Water Dragon Projectile Technique)" Sakura's feet gracefully landed on the still moving earth as a pillar of water materialized out of the air, forming into a dragon as it hurtled towards its target. Caught completely by surprise, the rock nin found himself unable to dodge the massive dragon as it collided squarely with his chest, sending him hurtling into the nearby forest.

The rock nin staggered slowly back to his feet, clutching his chest with one hand, his other on the trunk of a nearby tree in an attempt to steady himself. "Damn it... I'll be back, and with friends! And when we come back we're going to skewer you on some rocks, just like we did to your precious Hokage." The bald man turned, stumbling slightly before leaping into the trees and vanishing from sight.

"Holy crap sensei!" Kuma's trademark barking brought Sakura back to her senses as the adrenaline high of battle finally subsided.

"You totally tore him a new one! The way that dragon came out of no where like that. Oh man, I don't want to be him right now." Aiko added her own commentary to what they had seen as Sakura slowly tried to steady herself. _**'Fuck... That last attack took too much out of me. I need to stop fighting like Naruto...'**_

"Umm sensei... Your hair..." Kazuki's quiet voice broke Sakura out of her thoughts as she reached behind her head and ran her hand through her hair. The dye had run, leaving long black streaks in her now mostly pink hair. _**'Shit... I guess using wash out dye wasn't a great idea after all.'**_

"... so much for keeping a low profile." Skaura muttered to herself as she rung some of the excess water out of her hair.

Sakura took a few steps towards the group before stumbling, only to be caught by Kenta. "Come on, let's get you back to my place. You look like you could use a shower and some rest." Kenta spoke softly as he wrapped one of Sakura's arms around his shoulder.

Sakura nodded, unable to object to the prospect of a hot shower. "You three make sure everyone got out safely and then meet up back at Kenta-san's place, got it?" Her three genin all nodded in unison before bolting off into the still smoldering shrine.

* * *

Sakura sighed happily as the almost scalding hot water ran down her body, taking with it all of the mud and caked-on dirt that had accumulated during the travel there and her battle with the rock nin.

"Why the hell is Iwa out here? They're an awfully long way from home..." Sakura talked to herself as she slowly scrubbed the muck from her skin with a blindingly pink bath poof.

"It just doesn't make any sense. They have _nothing_ to gain out here. What in Kami's name are they up to?" Sakura leaned back into the hot water causing it to run black with the remains of the dye that was in her hair.

Sakura poured out a generous amount of her favorite shampoo before setting to work on her hair. It took her the better part of an hour to work out all of the kinks and knots in her hip length mass of hair. Finally satisfied that she had gotten the most out of her unexpected treat, Sakura shut the water off and began toweling herself dry with a fluffy, bubble-gum pink, bath towel.

"Unless... it's not the Tea Country they're after... What if it's... Oh Kami!" Sakura bolted from the bathroom and out into Kenta's living room.

"Is my team back yet?!" Sakura was looking around frantically as she burst into the room.

"...umm...I...ahh... they're...umm" Kenta spat out the tea he was drinking as he turned beet red and immediately looked away from Sakura.

"Wha... What?" Sakura stuttered momentarily before she looked down and realized she was clad only in her fluffy pink towel. "Oh get a hold of yourself Kenta. This is important. Where is my team?" Skaura huffed as she subconsciously clutched her towel closer to her still dripping form.

Kenta merely held up a hand and pointed down a hallway to his right as he continued to look away, his face still bright red.

* * *

To say that the genin Team 6 were shocked when their sensei burst into their room sopping wet and wearing nothing but a towel would have been a serious understatement. Kazuki immediately blushed and looked away as Kuma let out a cat call, which promptly earned him a slap across the back of his head from Aiko.

"Sensei? What's wrong? Did something happen? Is everything alright? Are we under attack?" Aiko was already half way through fastening her kunai pouch onto her civilian clothes before Sakura could even begin to answer her questions.

"Calm down Aiko. Everything is fine... for the moment at least. However, we need to be absolutely sure. I want you three to scout the village perimeter. Aiko, Kazuki, I want you two to take the south and west sides of the village. Kuma, you and Shiromaru will take the north and east sides. I want you to make sure there are no foreign ninja within two miles of the village. If you do encounter a ninja, I want you to retreat immediately, is that understood?"

Team 6 immediately snapped to attention and nodded quickly before they bolted from the room.

"Let's hope it's just that one team out here, or Naruto is going to be in for one hell of a surprise." Sakura sighed as she returned to the bathroom to finish drying off.

* * *

Sakura paced slowly out on the small roofed in porch of Kenta's house. She was once again clad in her full ninja gear, her hand absentmindedly drifting to the kodachi at her back every couple steps. Just as Sakura began to get worried that something had gone wrong, she spotted, or rather felt, four objects approaching her current position at high speed. Sakura let out a sigh of relief as her team launched out of the trees and landed in front of her.

"No signs of activity in the south or west sensei" Aiko responded as she landed next to Kazuki on the porch.

"Nothing in the north or east either." Kuma was panting slightly as he spoke. "What the hell is this all about sensei?"

"It's nothing urgent now that we know they're not nearby. You three go take showers and switch back into your normal clothes and then I'll explain everything."

Sakura was about to walk back into the house when she heard Aiko scream and Kuma let out one of his barking laughs. "For the love of god..." Sakura sighed to herself. "Take turns damn it!" Sakura added as she stormed through the door, barely able to restrain her frustration enough to prevent it from shattering as it slammed closed behind her.

* * *

Kazuki, Kuma, and Aiko found their teacher sitting at Kenta's small living room table hastily writing on a small scroll.

"Sit." Sakura motioned with her free hand at the three cushions around the table without looking up.

"Alright. This is the deal. The ninja I fought earlier tonight was from Iwa. He's a long way from home, and he's not alone. While it could conceivably be nothing, it's much more likely that they're planning another war. Incidents similar to what happened earlier began happening a few years before the last war as well. It's a fear tactic they use in order to solidify foot holds from which to launch a major offensive." Sakura explained without even looking up from what she was writing.

"... So you think they plan on using the Tea Country as an invasion point?" Kazuki was staring back at the top of Sakura's head with dark brown eyes.

"Exactly. I doubt it's anything that will take shape soon though. It took them two years of this kind of stuff before they felt like attacking Konoha directly, and they had almost twice the forces back then as they do now. Regardless, I'm informing the Hokage and requesting that he update our mission. It will probably take him a day or two to get back to us, so until then we'll be continuing with the plan, but I want you three on constant alert, got it?" Sakura looked up to make sure her team was nodding in agreement before continuing.

"More than likely that rock nin _will_ attack again, so you're to stay in combat gear at all times starting tomorrow. Questions?" Sakura blew on the last bit of her message to dry the ink before biting her thumb and making a hand seal before pressing her hand into the floor next to her "Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Summoning Technique)"

A small white and blue slug appeared in a cloud of smoke."I want you to take this to Naruto. It's important, got it?" The slug nodded as Sakura slid the scroll into a small pouch on the slug's back before it vanished once again in a poof of smoke.

* * *

The next two days were busy to say the least, and had kept Sakura and her team extremely well occupied. The rock nin had done one hell of a job, and several buildings had to be repaired, not to mention all of the crops that had to be replanted. As such, the days had shot by, and light was quickly fading as Team 6 finished repairing the last building on the edge of the village, an old tea cellar, when they heard a distinct rumbling from outside followed by a whimper from Shriomaru.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Aiko spun around and ran out of the building, Kazuki right on her heals.

Sakura and Kuma were standing outside in defensive stances. Sakura's hand was resting on her kodachi as she stared back at the three people who had come out of the nearby forest.

The rock nin from before was on the right, his shirtless chest now wrapped in heavy bandages and he seemed to be favoring his left side a little. On the left was a taller, slightly skinnier, brown haired man who was clad in a clay colored tunic that was held to his body by thick, gray, braided rope. He had a series of what looked like heavy stone balls strung around his neck, and a Rock forehead protector tied to his right arm.

It was the woman in the center, however, who had drawn Sakura's attention. She was wearing a torn black kimono with white lotus flowers on it. Her black hair was tied back in a short, unruly, ponytail, and her bangs fell down to her neck on either side of her face.

"Guren... What the fuck are you doing still alive? I thought Naruto killed you years ago?" Sakura growled out the words from between her clenched teeth, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the hilt of her kodachi.

"Sensei... Who is that?" Aiko had taken her defensive stance, kunai already drawn, the blades pointing out from the bottoms of her clenched fists.

"Trouble."

* * *

**A/N:**

First of all, sorry for the slight delay in updating, but the holidays caught me off guard and ended up taking up a little more of my time than I had originally anticipated.

Also, I'd like to appologize to all of the Naruto fans, but Sakura is the focus of the story _at the moment_. This **WILL** be changed, but frankly there is simply too much character development to do all at once on top of working with all of my OCs.

On a similar note, Sakura's fight with the rock nin could probably use some explaining. Firstly, the fight was quick because Sakura was using the enemy's surprise and confusion to her advantage. As for why a jonin was so tired after such a quick fight, she used a pair of very powerful jutsu that would both typically require an abundant source of water to use. She had to draw the water out of the air around her, which given her excellent control, was easily doable, but the sheer amount she needed drained her rather moderate chakra reserves to the point where she was exhausted by the end of it.

Another scene that I should probably explain before I get flamed to high heaven is the 'shower scene'. First off, it's not a fan service (those _might_ be coming later on in the story though :3), but rather was added to bring out Sakura's 'girly side' again since everything has been so focused on other things at the moment.

Also, the character Guren is the same one from the new Shippuden filler arc (episode 90), but I'm not considering the anime as canon, so anything that happens might not coincide with what happens in this story.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Next one should be a little bit more action packed with three full length battles, and Team 6's new mission orders :P


	5. Tea Field Showdown

**Chapter 4 – Tea Field Showdown**

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she evaluated the shinobi in front of her. _**'The bald one is still severely injured from before, and he wasn't much trouble when I fought him initially... Kazuki should be able to take him solo, or at the very least occupy him long enough until the others go down. Kuma, Shiromaru, and Aiko should be able to handle the tall one. That'll leave Guren to me.'**_

"Aiko, Kuma, handle the tall one. Kazuki, you take the bald one from earlier. I'll deal with Guren." Sakura whispered just loud enough for her team to hear as she drew her kodachi and took a half step backward. To anyone else, this was just someone preparing for battle, but to Team 6 it was a silent message to draw the enemy away from each other and minimize collateral damage if at all possible.

"Hey! Those rocks are pretty. I didn't think men wore jewelry though. Does that mean you're a girl?" Aiko stuck out her tongue at the taller man and immediately bolted off into the forest.

"She's got a point... You do kind of smell like a lady. Do you use perfume?" Kuma laughed and followed his teammate into the woods with his puppy right on his heals.

"Lady?! I'm gonna fucking kill you two!" The taller ninja bellowed out as he bolted after them.

"Ryota, you idiot..." Guren slapped her forehead as she watched her easily angered subordinate go barreling after a pair of children. Sakura, however, didn't waste the opportunity and decked her, sending Guren flying across the tea field.

"Hey sensei, why do I get stuck with the weak one?" Kazuki mumbled as he took up his battle stance and stared down the bald ninja.

"Sorry Kazuki-kun. You can have the strong one next time." Sakura ruffled his hair lightly before running off after Guren.

"Why you little snot.... You think I'm weak, eh? I'll show you weak!"

* * *

After a few minutes of jumping through trees, Aiko landed in a small clearing. After running out to the middle, she immediately turned around and got into a low crouch, ready to pounce on her target. Kuma was right on her tail, and he and Shiromaru vaulted over her as they continued to lure their enemy to her.

Just as predicted, the enraged rock nin came hurtling out of the forest and ran straight for Kuma, but he was unable to see Aiko directly behind the Inuzuka. As Kuma jumped over his partner, she immediately sprung forward and landed a solid punch in her target's gut.

"Shit that hurt... It feels like I just punched a god damn mountain." Aiko mumbled as she jumped backwards, throwing her kunai at him to cover her retreat, and shaking the pain out of her right hand as she spoke.

"Hah! Did you really think I'd be that easy to defeat?" Ryota deftly sidestepped the pair of kunai as he jammed his hands into the ground.

"Doton: Iwa Hahen no Jutsu! (Earth Release: Rock Splinter Technique)" He ripped a large chunk of stone out of the ground and threw it up into the air, punching it as it came back down. The rock shattered into dozens of shards as it hurtled towards Aiko with frightening speed.

"Shit! Kaiten! (Heavenly Spin)" Aiko activated her Byakugan and immediately began to spin around like a top, using the rotation and the chakra released from her hands to deflect all of the shards.

"Kuma! Now!" Aiko cut her technique off after the last shard was destroyed and crouched down low into the crater her technique had created, giving kuma a perfect line of sight on their enemy.

"My turn! Juujin Bunshin! (Beast-Man Clone)" Kuma tossed a soldier pill to Shiromaru as he transformed into an exact copy of his master. "Gatsuuga! (Dual Piercing Fang)" Kuma and Shiromaru hurtled over the crater caused by Aiko's kaiten and slammed square into Ryota's chest.

"I told you already, you can't win that easily!" Ryota swatted the pair away like flies, sending them back the way they had come.

As Kuma flew backwards, Aiko was already in motion, rocketing towards the rock nin at full speed.

"This again? How many times is it going to take before you realize you're useless girl!" Ryota mocked as he made a few quick hand seals.

"Doton: Doro Gaeshi! (Earth Release: Mud Overturn)" he shouted as he slammed his hands into the dirt with a smug look on his face, causing a huge rectangular section of rock to swing up in front of him like a shield.

"Suiton: Mizurappa! (Water Release: Violent Water Wave)" Aiko made a quick set of seals before bringing her hand to her mouth and inhaling deeply. Just before reaching the wall, Aiko jumped up and aimed at the ground, spitting out a violent jet of water. Using the back pressure from her technique, she was easily able to launch herself over the wall, feet pointed towards the sky as she flew gracefully through the air.

"Miss me?" Aiko smiled at the rock nin as she stared down at him, a hailstorm of kunai following in her wake.

Caught completely by surprise, Ryota was forced to retreat away from his wall in order to avoid the storm of metal, only to stumble into a chakra enhanced juuken strike from Aiko. The blow sending him hurtling back the way he had come, and right through his slab of rock.

Ryota climbed back up to his feet, brushing mud off of his clothes as the remains of his wall collapsed back into dust. "I told you already. Your attacks can't hurt me little girl."

"Hurt you? Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm just the diversion. He's the attack." Aiko smirked as she pointed between the rock nin's feet.

"A puppy? You sent the puppy?!" Ryota burst out laughing. "You've got to be kidding me. This is the best you've got?"

"Bakuretsu Koinu! (Exploding Puppy)" Kuma shouted from across the field as the copy of Shiromaru burst apart, sending a hail of kunai in every direction.

"Wha?!" Ryota grunted as the force of the explosion lifted him a few inches off the ground, two of the kunai ramming into his chest in the process.

"Gatsuuga!" Kuma shouted as he and the real Shiromaru shot across the field towards their target.

"Shit!" Ryota only just managed to avoid the attack by jumping to the side, using the momentary pause in combat to pull out the kunai that had managed to strike him.

_**'Huh... That's the first time we've really hurt him. The chakra in his feet was all weird earlier too, but it wasn't there when Kuma hit him with that last attack.'**_ Aiko went over the last few attacks in her mind as she caught her partner.

"Kuma... I think he needs to be touching solid ground for that defensive technique of his to work. The chakra in his feet spiked heavily when you connected with him earlier. It also seemed much weaker when you hit him when he was standing on that mud. See if you can get him into the air. I've got an idea." Aiko whispered into her teammate's ear as she steadied him.

Kuma nodded before turning towards their target. "Alright that was just a warm up. Let's go. Shikyaku no Jutsu! (Four Legs Technique)" Kuma shouted as he and Shiromaru dropped onto all fours. "Gatsuuga!"

"Hah! Looks like you can't teach an old dog new tricks!" Ryota just stood there laughing as the attack closed in on him. Just before connecting, Kuma and Shiromaru shot downwards, slamming into both of Ryota's shins, ripping his footing out from under him due to the sheer force of the impact.

"Now!" Kuma shouted as his technique abruptly ended with the two of them on their backs under Ryota. The pair of man-beasts shot their legs upwards in a twisting kick, using their hands, and the lingering momentum of their previous attack, to launch their feet into his stomach, sending him flying up into the air.

"Aiko! Now's your chance!" Kuma shouted as both he and Shiromaru finished their movement in a pair of back flips, leaving them standing and facing each other.

"On it!" Aiko immediately rocketed forward, shooting towards her teammate and his dog-turned-man at a startling speed. Kuma and Shiromaru were ready for her, and had already linked their arms together as she jumped at them. The second her feet made contact, they heaved her upwards, sending her straight up after Ryota like a missile.

"Hakke Rokujuuyonshou! (Eight Divination Signs, Sixty-Four Palms of the Hand)" Aiko's hands blurred as she struck out at the tenketsu of the rock nin in mid air, a look of sheer disbelief plastered across his face. The amount of power behind her strikes launched him even further into the air as she slowly arched backwards, landing gracefully in a crouch just behind her teammate.

Ryota, however, did not fare so well in his landing, and hit the ground hard, ending up in a crumpled mass at the edge of the clearing. He slowly managed to stagger back up to his feet, his arms hanging limply at his sides as he swayed slowly to keep his balance. "... how?" The rock nin sputtered as he coughed up a large amount of blood before slamming face first back into the ground.

"Damn it. That took a lot out of me..." Aiko panted heavily as she slowly tried to get back to her feet, only to stumble forward into Kuma's arms.

"Ya, I'm wiped out too... Glad that ended when it did, or we'd both be dead." Kuma helped his partner to her feet, his puppy already sleeping soundly in his favorite spot on his head. "Let's get back to Kazuki and Sakura-sensei... I've got a bad feeling about that lady she was fighting. She might need our help"

"Lot of good we'll be like this, but you're right. We better get back."

* * *

Five Kazuki's charged through the tea field towards the bald rock nin, or more accurately Kazuki and four of his bunshins did. As they neared their target they began to shift back and forth, zig zagging between each other, making it completely impossible to figure out which one was real by sight. Coincidentally, it also made it impossible to tell when the real one vanished and was replaced by a fifth bunshin

.

"You little brat! You think your silly tricks can fool me, Iwao of the Rock! I'll just pick them off one by one until I find the real you!" Iwao boasted confidently as he hurled a large rock at one of the bunshins, instantly dispelling it.

A second rock immediately followed the first, and clipped another bunshin, causing it to vanish in a poof of smoke as the other three stopped a few yards from their target, slowly circling him like wolves circling their prey.

"Only three of you left. Odds are tipping in my favor, boy! Why don't you just come out and I'll make it quick." Iwao laughed, a wicked grin quickly spreading across his face. The expression did not last long as three kunai embedded themselves into his back.

"Why come out when you can't find me?" Kazuki's voice echoed quietly as Iwao spun around only to see nothing at all.

"You little snot... Your genjutsu won't work anymore. Kai! (Release)" Iwao shouted as he made a quick ram sign. Four more kunai came out of the shadows, but Iwao was prepared this time and managed to dodge them, but in doing so, he walked into another pair of shuriken.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but it's not a genjutsu. You're just blind." Another three kunai slammed into Iwao's back.

"You can't hide if there's no place left for you to run. Doton: Kyuuzou Tochi no Jutsu! (Earth Release: Surging Land Technique)" Iwao ran through a half dozen seals before slamming both hands into the ground at his feet.

The entire tea field shuddered violently as a huge ring of cracks emanated outwards from the rock nin. The ground groaned as it gave way and shattered, turning a 50 yard section of the once well maintained tea field into uneven rubble.

The sudden loss of footing caused the real Kazuki to pitch forward, sending him tumbling head over heels as he shimmered back into view.

"Aha! There you are! Doton: Doryuu Taiga! (Earth Release: Earth Flow River)" The ground around Kazuki liquefied, forcing him to jump to the side several yards.

"Sorry, I'm not that slow. Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)" Kazuki shifted through a few hand seals before placing his hand to his mouth and spitting a long stream of fire at his enemy.

"Shit!" Iwao dodged to the side as the stream of flames exploded into a huge fireball just as he got out of the way.

"Alright kid, enough toying around. Doton: Doryuudan! (Earth Release: Earth Dragon Projectile)" The mud from his previous attack reared up and into the rough form of a dragon before spitting out several large balls of mud at Kazuki.

Caught completely by surprise, the projectiles found their mark, sending Kazuki spiraling through the air before tumbling roughly over the uneven terrain.

"Ha! Got you now! Doton: Doryuu Kangoku! (Earth Release: Earth Style Prison)" Iwao shouted as he slammed his hands back onto the ground. The rock around Kazuki suddenly lurched upwards and wrapped around his arms, waist, and legs, encasing them in solid rock and completely preventing any further movement on his part.

"Now... I could just kill you, but what fun would that be?" Iwao laughed as he walked up to his prisoner.

"No... I think I'll go find your little friends. I'm sure you and that mutt will enjoy watching what I do to the Hyuuga girl before I kill her." Iwao's mouth twisted up into a lecherous grin as he spoke.

The sky above the pair slowly churned into an ominous mass of black clouds as he described, in great detail, what he planned to do to his teammates. Kazuki silently stood there, forced to listen to the gruesome details the man in front of him was spewing out of his mouth. His eyes dimmed, and the more the rock nin spoke, the further he retreated back into the deepest recesses of his mind.

'_**I'm sorry. I wasn't strong enough. I'm sorry I couldn't stop him. I'm glad I found some friends before I had to die...'**_ Kazuki's head hung forward limply, his bangs covering his eyes, and his body only remaining upright due to the large columns of rock that had wound themselves around his arms.

Unsatisfied with the lack of reaction he was getting, Iwao decided to try a different tactic. He went through a few hand signs and caused the stone to become spiky and slowly constrict around Kazuki, causing the sharp slivers of rock to pierce his flesh as he continued his vivid description of the horrors he was going to inflict upon Kazuki's team. _**'Friends... I'm glad I found some... I... I can't let him do all those things to them. I won't!'**_

"Well enough with the stories. I better go find them. I'd hate to keep you waiting." Iwao cackled as he began to walk off in the direction they had seen Aiko and Kuma head earlier, leaving Kazuki bleeding heavily and looking like some sort of human pincushion hanging between two pillars of rock.

Iwao hadn't made it more than half way across the field before he heard Kazuki screaming at him.

"You... Will... Not... Harm... My Friends!" Kazuki bellowed at the rock nin's back.

"Oh I won't, will I? We'll just see about that." Iwao looked over his shoulder at the poor genin as the ominous clouds above them slowly continued to seethe and churn.

"DIE!" Kazuki's fingers clenched into fists as he stared back at the retreating man with a look of absolute fury. The air humming slightly as thin tendrils of chakra spiraled up around him, slowly building up from an imperceptible glow to a cold blue light.

Iwao's laugh was cut viciously short as a huge bolt of lightning slammed into the ground mere inches in front of him. "What the fuck was that?!" His voice suddenly panic-stricken as he whirled around to see what the hell had just happened.

"You will die before you touch them!" Kazuki roared as the rock holding him shattered like glass. Before the stones had even hit the ground, he was hurtling towards his target with a speed that made him look more like a black blur than a person.

"You will not harm them!" Kazuki roared as he pulled out a kunai, chakra racing along the edge as the blade glowed white hot and crackled with electricity. Just as Kazuki got within striking distance, he jumped into the air, using his speed to launch himself at the rock nin. The glowing white kunai jamming between the rock nin's eyes, freezing the look of complete and total shock on his face forever.

The speed of the impact wrenched the handle of the kunai from Kazuki's grip as he sailed over the still standing rock nin's head just as another flash lit up the sky. A second huge bolt of lightning surged to the ground, right through the now dead rock nin.

Darkness crept over Kazuki's vision as his body collapsed under the immense strain it was just put under. The last thing he saw before the darkness claimed him was the charred body of the rock nin hitting the ground.

* * *

"You little bitch!" Guren slowly dragged herself out of the downed trees around her as she stared coldly at the pink haired kunoichi

."I'm going to rip you apart for what you did to my friends!" Sakura shouted as she charged back at the black haired woman in front of her, fist raised and ready to strike. Just before she could make contact, a huge pillar of pink crystal shot out from the ground, forcing Sakura to flip backwards out of the way.

"Like a little girl like you can! Riding on your old team's laurels. Letting them do all of the work. You're pathetic!" Guren hurled several razor sharp pieces of crystal at the woman as she ranted.

"Back then maybe, but I've changed Guren. War does that to a person." Sakura began flipping through hand seals as she glared at her enemy.

"Kokuangyou no Jutsu! (Journy into Black Darkness Technique)" Guren's eyes shot open at hearing the name of the technique just before everything went black.

"What the hell is this? You're not this strong!" Guren frantically swiveled her head back and forth trying to find any hint as to where her enemy had gone, but found all of her senses completely useless.

"You're going to pay for this you little whore!" She barely got the words out of her mouth before she was shot across back into the trees, white hot pain driving away the darkness. "Now I'm pissed. You should have killed me while you had the chance. Time to die Pinky. Shoton: Kesshou Kiretsu Touei no Jutsu! (Crystal Release: Crystal Fissure Projection Technique)"

Sakura barely had enough time to dodge away as huge spikes of pink crystal shot out of the ground forcing her further and further away from Guren. _**'Shit... This isn't good. I can't get enough time to use any of my stronger genjutsu, and I can't get close enough to use the ones I can use on the run. I can't even use my strength... That just leaves ninjutsu, but I don't have the chakra for much of that after yesterday.'**_

Another shard of crystal burst out of the ground just as Sakura's foot touched down, and she was forced to handspring away. _**'That was close. At the rate this is going she's just going to tire me out and then I'll end up caught in one of her damn crystals.'**_

"And here I thought you'd be a little bit more of a challenge. Konoha's Pink Rose... HAH!" Guren scoffed as she ran through more seals.

"I'll show you just how useless you are girl. Shoton: Kessho Gokakuro! (Crystal Release: Crystal Pentagonal Prison)"

Huge blocks of crystal shot out of the ground, trapping animals and plant-life alike inside of them as they rocketed towards Sakura, forcing her even further backwards.

_**'Shit I don't have time for this... I've only got one option left. I've only had time to read up on it a bit... Kami I hope this works. Ancestors, please guide me.'**_

"Kichigan!" Sakura's eyes immediately split and started to revolve, slowly picking up speed. A searing headache blurred her vision as her mind frantically tried to cope with the huge amount of sensory input. Thinking quickly, she slammed her eyes shut and pulled her forehead protector down over them in order to prevent herself from passing out from information overload.

"You think you can fight me blind? You really are pathetic!" Guren laughed and sent her crystals hurtling towards her target.

_**'Left'**_ Sakura twirled to her left just as a huge shard of crystal burst out of the ground. _**'Forward'**_ Sakura turned her twirl into a shoulder roll just as a second shard shot out behind her. '_**Run. Now.'**_ She bolted forward, her own mind guiding her through the forest of rock and crystal.

"What the hell is this?! Shoton: Kessho Senbon no Jutsu! (Crystal Release: Crystal Needle Technique)" Guren shrieked as she hurled spikes of crystal at her enemy, watching in horror as Sakura easily dodged every single one.

"That isn't possible! You can't be doing that! What the hell are you?!"

Guren was frantic, unable to cope with someone slipping through all of her attacks so effortlessly.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow Clone Technique)" Sakura shouted as she formed her hand into a cross shaped seal after jumping another block of crystal. The pair of clones slammed into Guren as they forced her hands behind her back and brought her to her knees before the still blinded Sakura.

"I've put up with this long enough. You put my friends through more than enough pain in the past, and now you attack my team. It's time to end this for good." Sakura whispered as she ripped her forehead protector off and grabbed a fistful of Guren's hair.

"Sakura Shitsu Kentou. (Cherry Blossom Disorientation)" Guren screamed as she stared into Sakura's jade eyes as everything around them dissolved into a spiraling mass of cherry blossoms.

"Saigo no Sakura (Final Cherry Blossom)" Sakura whispred as the petals spiraled around them faster and faster as if they were caught in the wind. Guren's mind was suddenly filled with the image of a single pink blossom. She watched, enraptured, as it started as a bud, flowered, and finally wilted, and then everything went black.

Sakura watched as all the crystal around her shattered into dust as her shadow clones dispelled. Guren's eyes rolled back into her head and her lifeless body slumped forward as it hit the ground. A bolt of lightning and a thunderous boom broke Sakura from her daze as she snapped her head in the direction her team was in before vanishing in a swirl of pink.

* * *

"Kazuki!" Aiko screamed as she watched him jam the kunai into his attacker and go hurtling into the trees. Within seconds, she was next to her fallen teammate, Kuma following a few seconds behind.

"Is he..." Kuma let his question trail off, unable to bring himself to mention what they both were thinking.

"I... I don't think so, but something is seriously wrong with his chakra coils..." Aiko spoke softly, shaking her head from side to side.

"We need to go find sensei. She's a medic. She can help." Kuma got up and started to head towards the mass of downed trees that were no doubt caused by their teacher, but before he could take more than a few steps, a swirl of petals announced their sensei's arrival. Her clothes were torn, one of her ponytails had come undone, and she was covered from head to toe with small cuts and scrapes.

"Thank Kami! Sensei, something is really wrong with Kazuki! I don't know what's going on, but his chakra isn't acting normal at all." Aiko was flailing her arms around as she panicked.

"Aiko! Calm down. I need you to tell me what you're seeing." Sakura spoke softely as she knelt down next to her fallen teammate.

"His chakra is going haywire. I don't know what's going on. One second it's normal, then it pulses, and then it fades down to barely there. Is he going to die sensei? I don't want him to die... I didn't want anyone to die..." Aiko sobbed as she forced herself to look away from her team.

"No one is going to die Aiko." Sakura spoke softly as she held her hands over Kazuki, a green glow slowly flickering to life before flowing outwards to encompass his body. Kuma watched with wide eyes as all of the gashes on Kazuki slowly closed up and he gently nudged Aiko in the shoulder.

"Aiko... look. He's going to be alright. See?"

Aiko turned to watch as her sensei finished healing all of his wounds before giving Kuma a weak smile and passing out.

"Kuma... can you carry Aiko? I don't have much strength left after my fight." Sakura groaned as she slowly lifted Kazuki off of the dirt.

* * *

"Where the hell am I? The Tea Country's forests don't look like this..." Kazuki shook the daze from his mind as he looked around. All around him was a dark, dense, forest full of ancient trees for as far as he could see. In front of him was a massive cave at least three or four times as tall as he was. A pair of huge silver gates were resting in a twisted pile just inside. They almost looked like they had been blown inward by one of Sakura's monstrous punches.

Kazuki took a few hesitant steps towards the cave before a sudden motion from inside made him freeze in place.

There was something inside the cave, and whatever it was, it was was absolutely massive, black as night, and had huge glowing blue eyes.

"What the hell is that?" Kazuki whispered as he cautiously took a few more steps towards the cave, only to stop when the thing turned and began walking towards him.

"Is that... a wolf?" Kazuki mumbled frantically as he started back pedaling away from the cave only to have the giant wolf pick up speed and launch itself at him. Stumbling over a rock, Kazuki fell backwards just as the huge beast launched over him, it's five tails whipping about wildly as it skidded to a stop and turned to make another pass. The huge wolf snarling menacingly as it jumped at Kazuki once again.

* * *

Kazuki sat bolt upright, his right hand whipping around, trying to defend himself with a non-existent kunai. causing everyone in the room to stare at him. His mesh undershirt had been removed and the sudden movement had caused his tunic to loosen and fall off his shoulders, exposing his chest and most of his stomach.

"Where...Where am I? What happened?"

Aiko immediately blushed and looked away and Kuma decided it best not to say anything at all since they'd been through so much already, and his mouth always seemed to get him into more trouble. Sakura, however, was staring at Kazuki's stomach with a look of abject horror plastered across her face.

_**'Oh Gods no... That's... It looks just like... Please let me be wrong. Kami, please please please let me be wrong...'**_ Sakura was staring at the black seal that was just barely visible on Kazuki's stomach. The large seal looked like someone had taken a wet cloth and tried to rub parts of it away, so that it was completely blank in some areas, and blurred in others.

Before anyone could ask her what was wrong, she had shot across the room and had the boy in a tight hug. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."

"I'm fine sensei..." Kazuki's eyes were on the ground as his teacher held him to her.

"Do you remember anything about what happened?" Sakura held him at arms length and watched as the remains of the seal faded completely.

"The last thing I remember was that man, Iwao, catching me in some sort of rock jutsu and then telling me all these horrible things he was going to do to Aiko and Kuma. After that, everything is blank... What's going on sensei?" Kazuki shook his head slowly as Sakura looked over her shoulder at the rest of her team.

"Did either of you see any part of Kazuki's fight? This is important." Sakura gave them a cold stare as she spoke to make sure they understood the seriousness of the situation. Kuma shook his head, but Aiko spoke up softely.

"Sensei... I saw the end of it... Kazuki... He... He rammed a kunai covered in electricity into the face of that bald rock nin, and then a huge bolt of lightning connected with it as Kazuki went hurtling into the bushes."

"What about his emotions? How was Kazuki acting?"

"... I'm right here you know..." Kazuki mumbled, but Sakura put her finger to his lips to shush him.

"This is important Kazuki. We could have a serious issue here. Go ahead Aiko..."

"He was... furious. I couldn't really see his face since I didn't have my Byakugan active, but if his screaming and that huge booming roar were any sign, I'd say he was down right pissed."

Sakura's face visibly paled when the phrase 'booming roar' came out of her genin's mouth. "Oh Kami..."

"Sensei? What's wrong with Kazuki?" Aiko whimpered as she saw all the color drain out of her teacher's skin.

Before she could respond, Kazuki's body went rigid, his back arched, and he screamed. Not the kind of scream that you hear when someone gets hurt, but rather that mind seering, blood curtling, scream that you only hear when someone is in total and utter agony.

"Aiko! Tell me what his chakra looks like! Now!"

Aiko activated her kekkei genkai before immediately turning away holding her eyes.

"Aiko?! What's going on?"

"I... I couldn't see... It was like staring at the sun through a magnifying glass."

"Kuma! Bag! NOW!" Sakura screamed, causing him to dive across the room for his sensei's bag before hurling it across the room. She caught it effortlessly and tore its contents apart. Scrolls, clothing, and kunai going flying as she ripped through it in search of something. _**'Oh please tell me I packed it. I never leave with out it. It's got to be in here. For the love of Kami let it be in here.'**_

Sakura sighed in relief as she felt her hand close around the familiar black scroll with silver banding. Wasting absolutely no time, she threw the scroll open and slammed it down on Kazuki's chest while making frantic hand seals.

"Fuuin! (Seal)" Sakura sighed in relief as she watched the boy slump back into his bed unconscious and breathing hard, but otherwise unharmed.

"Thank Kami! It worked. Kuma, there's a small wooden box next to you that I accidentally threw out of my bag. Could you bring it to me please? Aiko, are your eyes alright?"

"I think so sensei... What was that?" Aiko blinked several times as Kuma handed Sakura the box.

"That was chakra backlash. A _lot_ of chakra backlash... Thank you Kuma." Sakura nodded at her student as she opened the box and pulled out a small square piece of paper with a very complex seal on it off the stack that was inside. She placed it gingerly on Kazuki's forehead and removed the large black scroll once the smaller seal had lit up.

"Aiko... could you look at him again for me please?" Sakura's voice was shaky, but not nearly as frantic as it had been a few moments ago.

"He looks normal sensei... Very worn out, but normal."

"Sensei, what in Kami's name was that about?" Kuma asked, his voice unusually quiet.

"I have an idea, but I'm not quite ready to believe what I saw just yet..."

The door to the room slid open carefully and Kenta walked in slowly carrying a tray with tea on it.

"I heard yelling... I wanted to make sure you're alright." Kenta smiled weakly as he set the tray down.

"We're all fine for the moment Kenta-san. I apologize for worrying you. Oh! Did you see any toads while we were gone? Naruto's message should be getting here soon."

"Yes, in fact one showed up shortly after you got here, but you all seemed as if you had terribly pressing matters to attend to, so I asked him if I could deliver the message to you."

"... and?"

"He refused, and said that he needed to deliver it personally and in private."

"Show me to him please. Aiko, look after Kazuki. Make sure he's as comfortable as possible. Kuma, guard them both." Sakura sighed heavily as she stood and walked out of the room.

* * *

"I apologize for making you wait, Toad-san, but we had rather urgent matters to attend to." Sakura bowed deeply to the small toad that was sitting on Kenta's coffee table.

"It's quite alright. It would seem that one of your team is badly hurt, is everything ok?" The toad croaked softly as it stared back at her.

"... no. In fact I'm extremely worried about him at the moment. Do you have the Hokage's message?"

"I do." The toad opened it's mouth and handed her a small green scroll with its tongue.

_Sakura,_

_Stay put. I sent a chunin team to your location, they should be getting there at some point tomorrow. I'm recalling your team. You've done a wonderful job, but things are worse than I feared. If you see that ninja again, or come up against any others, I want you to retreat. I know your team can probably handle them, but there is something strange going on, and I don't want to see you get hurt._

_~Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage_

"Toad-san? You're much faster than my slug messengers, yes?" Sakura watched as the toad nodded.

"How long will it take you to get to the Hokage and back?"

"About twenty minutes if I move as fast as possible, why do you ask?"

"I need to get him an urgent message. This is a matter of life and death, can I count on you to get it to him as fast as possible?" The toad nodded.

"Good. I want you to tell him that Kazuki is displaying signs of being a jinchuriki and that his seal is damaged. I want you to tell him that I've suppressed his chakra as low as I possibly can without killing him and have him in a state of unconsciousness, but we cannot wait until morning. He needs to get to Konoha as soon as possible. Can you do that for me?" Sakura sighed in relief as the toad simply nodded and poofed out of existence.

* * *

The past twenty minutes were absolute torture to Sakura. She had taken a few minutes to repack her bag and to tell Kuma and Aiko to pack, but other than that she had spent the time pacing in Kenta's living room.

A loud pop and a poof of smoke signaled the arrival of a very exhausted looking toad. After catching his breath for a moment, the toad hopped closer and relayed his message.

"The Hokage wants you to move out immediately. Do not stop for food. Do not stop for rest. Your mission is now to get Kazuki back to Konoha in the shortest amount of time possible. He'll have a hospital room and the required people ready for you when you get there."

Sakura nodded before getting up and turning to the door. "Thank you Toad-san. You may have just saved a life today." Sakura bowed low to the toad as he poofed out of existence.

* * *

Sakura walked back into the bedroom they had been using and found everyone more or less where they had been earlier.

"Kenta-san. Thank you for your hospitality, but we need to go. Now. I wish we could have stayed longer, but Kazuki's life is in grave danger, and we need to return to Konoha. There will be a chunin team contacting you in the morning."

"Understandable. Is there anything I can do to help?" Kenta bowed low to Sakura.

"You can explain to your village why one of their tea fields was ruined today. You can have them bill Konoha for it." Sakura sighed as she turned towards her genin.

"Aiko. Kuma. I take it you packed completely like I asked?" She waited for them to both nod before continuing.

"Good. We're leaving. We're to stop for nothing. Kazuki's fate rests with us getting to Konoha in the shortest amount of time possible. Move out."

* * *

Sakura and the rest of Team 6 landed just inside the gates of Konoha long after nightfall, startling the two sleepy chunin that were on duty.

"Halt. Identification?" One of the guards stood up just as Sakura shot past, not even batting an eye at him.

"Hey! He said halt!"

"Didn't you see the body in her arms?! That's my fucking teammate you ass!" Aiko walked right up to the chunin and stared him down, which is saying a lot considering the chunin was a good two feet taller than her.

"Umm... I... Sorry?" The guard gulped.

"Aiko. You're scaring the poor guy. Team 6 has returned. Now if you excuse us, we were ordered to fetch the Hokage as soon as possible."

Aiko glared at the guards one last time before they took to the roofs and shot towards the Hokage tower.

* * *

"I don't care if he's busy! This is a matter of life and death! Do you want my teammate's blood on _your_ hands because you're sense of duty prevented us from getting the one man who could save him?!" Aiko was fuming at the Hokage's secretary.

_**'Kami what is with the girls in my life... They're all REALLY scary when they're angry.'**_ Shiromaru's yipping brought him out of his thoughts as he looked down at the puppy and ruffled its fur.

"You said it boy..."

"That's it. I don't care what you think. I'm going in." Aiko shouted and walked past the secretary and slammed open the doors to the Hokage's office.

Naruto looked up as the pair of genin ran into his office and sighed. _**'Thank Kami they made good time.'**_

"Hokage-sama! Sakura-sensei took Kazuki to the hospital. She said she needed you there as soon as possible. Please hurry... She's running on soldier pills..." Aiko was frantically trying to explain what was going on, and had failed to notice the silver-haired man and woman in the trench coat leaning against the wall.

"Shit! Kakashi. Ino. Let's go. We don't have time to talk about this." Naruto stood up from his desk and ran over to the window before bolting out of it. Everyone else quickly following him to the hospital.

* * *

Naruto burst into the hospital room, quickly followed by Kakashi, Ino, and the remainder of Team 6.

"Sakura... How is he?" Naruto asked, not even bothering to mask the worry in his voice.

"Stable. There's nothing more I can do... He's physically fine, but his chakra is all sorts of messed up." Sakura spoke, panting heavily as she tried to keep from passing out.

"Thank Kami. Sakura, you've done wonderfully, please go get some rest before we have another member of Team 6 in the hospital tonight. Actually... Why don't you two help her to her house?" Naruto turned towards the two genin of Team 6 that were still standing and gave them a weary smile that clearly said it was not a request.

"Of course Naruto-sama... Just help Kazuki... Please?" Aiko whimpered as she got under Sakura's arms just as the older woman started to collapse from exhaustion.

"Don't worry Aiko-chan. He'll be fine. Now go."

Once the door had closed, he turned towards the two remaining people room. "Alright. What I'm about to do is extremely dangerous, and it's why both of you are here. I'm going to try and reseal whatever was stuck inside of him, but in order to do that I need to release the remains of his current seal..."

Ino gasped and Kakashi's eyes shot up to the top of his forehead at the last part.

"Hokage-sama, you can't be serious?" Kakashi was looking wearily at the boy in the bed and remembering that fateful night almost 26 years ago when the Kyuubi attacked.

"I don't have a choice. Now this is what i want you to do. Kakashi, when I release the seal his chakra is going to spke heavily. I need you to maintain those suppression seals." Naruto motioned at the dozen pieces of ink covered paper that were all over Kazuki's body. "Ino, I'm going to need you to go into his mind once I release the seal so I know what I'm dealing with."

Ino just stared at him for a moment "You want me to... mind walk into someone who we know for a fact has something unnatural inside of him?"

"Yes. I understand if your hesitant, and if you don't want to do it then I'll just have to do this blind, but you're the only one who can raise his chances of living through this." Naruto gave her a cold look that shook the poor girl to her very core.

"... I'll do it."

"Good. Shizune?!" Naruto shouted and moments later the door burst open and a women in purple clothes with deep brown hair streaked with gray came barreling in.

"You called Hokage-sama?"

"I need you to watch over Kazuki while Kakashi maintains the suppression seals, and I craft the new seal."

"Of course Hokage-sama."

"Alright. Ready, Ino?" She nodded and Naruto made a series of hand signs before placing his palm on the boy's stomach, directly over the fractured seal. "Here goes nothing. Kai!"

The second the seal was released, all of the suppression seals on Kazuki's body flared to life with renewed vigor causing Kakashi to jump forward and begin pouring chakra into them in an effort to strengthen them.

"Ino... Now."

"Right. Shinteni no Jutsu! (Mind Dislocaiton Technique)"

* * *

Ino found herself standing in a small clearing sounded by massive trees. If it weren't for the task at hand, it would have been stunning, but her attention was immediately drawn to the small boy fighting a two and a half story wolf with five tails on the other side of the field.

Before Ino could do anything, however, the wolf made a final lunge at Kazuki, only to slam into a wall of chakra mere inches from his target. The wolf didn't let up, and kept up his assault, causing Kazuki to roar and put up both of his hands in an attempt to push the giant wolf off of him.

Just as Ino got within range of the pair, her vision lit up in violent flash of cold blue light, which was quickly followed by a deafening boom and a massive shock-wave. The last thing Ino saw as she was flying through the air was the wolf slowly dissolving into chakra and Kazuki pitching forward towards the ground.

* * *

"Oh Kami... Why does that keep happening when I mind walk people..." Ino sighed as she held her head in her hands, trying to get the massive headache to go away.

"Ino... Sorry to interrupt, but I think we could use your report about now..." Kakashi was huffing, Sharingan active, and all twelve of the suppression seals searing with white light in an attempt to keep Kazuki's chakra at bay.

"Right... What ever is in there is dead. Don't know what happened, but it attacked Kazuki and then there was this huge flash of light. The last thing I saw was the thing turning into chakra and Kazuki falling to the ground." Ino groaned as the sound of her own voice intensified the pain in her head.

"That's odd... Guess that will have to do though. Seiki Chinatsu Fuuin! (Energy Supression Seal)" Naruto ran through a few quick hand seals before placing his hand on Kazuki's chest causing a pitch black circular seal to appear on his stomach.

"Damn... Doesn't look like that's going to be enough. Godai Tomedate Fuuin! (Five Elements Restraining Seal)" Naruto ran through another half dozen hand seals before slamming his fingertips around the first seal, leaving five black marks that looked vaguely like the leaf symbol. The second the final seal took hold, Kazuki slumped back into the bed and all the smaller suppression seals deactivated.

"There we go... That seems to have done the trick. Though it's kind of odd..." Naruto panted as he tried to catch his breath.

"What's odd? And wait a minute, why are you so tired?" Kakashi wiped his forehead and began removing the now burnt out suppression seals.

"What elemental affinity do you think Kazuki has?"

"Well, from what Sakura has told me of his abilities in the past, I would have said fire, but from the brief explanation of his last fight, he could be lightning too."

"That's not what I felt inside of him... I felt _all_ of them Kakashi. That's why I'm so tired... I had to not only suppress his chakra in such a way as to not kill him, but I also had to suppress five different elemental affinities. I shouldn't have had to do that..."

"All five?" Kakashi's eyebrows hit the top of his forehead for the second time in the last hour.

"Ya... That's really odd on its own, but the sheer amount of chakra I had to suppress in addition to it, along with Ino's description... I'm starting to think that whatever was inside of the poor boy tried to fuse with him when it realized it couldn't exist outside on its own."

"Does that mean he's a jinchuriki?"

"No, well he was, but he isn't now. The demon is gone, there wasn't any trace of it inside of him, but the demon's chakra somehow got converted into Kazuki's own chakra. If we were any later, his chakra coils would have burnt out and he would have died."

"So what happens now?" Ino interrupted, finally getting her headache under control.

"He lives with that seal on him for the rest of his life. I used the same idea that was used on my seal, but his chakra coils are too far developed to completely absorb all of that chakra. That and it did something to his elemental chakra too, but I think he'll be able to gain total control over that with some training."

Kakashi simply nodded in understanding, but Ino seemed completely lost.

"Okay... That's just giving me another headache... Are we done? I'd kind of like to get home to my daughter and some aspirin." Ino sighed in relief as Naruto nodded that she and Shizune could leave, leaving Kakashi in the room with him.

"So he'll never be able to use all that chakra?"

"Don't get me wrong... He's still young. He'll probably get access to 80% of it naturally, but that last 20% will probably only be usable for short bursts. Unfortunately, if it's anything like the Kyuubi's chakra, when he draws on it through the seal, it's going to end up changing him for the duration of it's use as well as doing some serious damage to him. That's the other reason I asked you here Kakashi. I need a favor."

"You want me to train him."

"I do. He needs to understand what's going on... The chunin exams are in two and a half weeks, do you think you can teach him how to work that outer seal, and maybe teach him a thing or two to use with all that extra chakra?"

"Naruto... You're asking me to take him away from his sensei and teach him how to weild demonic chakra? Wouldn't you be better for this?"

"Kakashi... You _know_ what my life was like. Do you want him to live like that? He's going to be confused and he's just been turned into a massive target. There are villages out there looking to replace the Biju they lost when the Akatsuki came. He needs help. As for why I don't just do it... Well, honestly, I'd love to do it. I'd love to get away from those stacks of papers, but I can't. The best I can do is give you what you need to know to teach him."

"I understand Hokage-sama. I'll do my best."

"Thank you Kakashi. You helped me a lot during my genin years, I hope you can help him just as much. Come by my office tomorrow morning and I'll give you the scrolls on both of his seals, as well as some ideas on what he can learn."

"Of course, Naruto." Kakashi nodded once at him before heading to the door.

"Oh and Kakashi. Be on time. I'd hate to have to insult Ero-senin's memory by not honoring his request to continue the Icha-Icha series." Naruto smirked as Kakashi gulped and walked out of the room.

"Kazuki... You're in for one hell of a wake up call tomorrow..." Naruto sighed and left the boy to his recovery.

* * *

**A/N:**

Well I certainly didn't expect this chapter to take as long as it did. Sorry guys. This is actually the fourth revision of the chapter. Just couldn't get happy with how things kept turning out, and since it's such an important chapter, story-wise, I wasn't really willing to compromise on it. Also, I came down with a huge case of the plot bunnies and ended up having to fend them off by writing another chapter of the story (Don't worry you WILL get to see it at some point, but it's not for much much later on in the story XD).

Anyway, as an appology, I decided to end this chapter a few scenes later than I had originally planed (thus the extra 2,000 words or so). Hope you all enjoyed it. Review and all that. Now I'm off to go kill some more plot bunnies with a sharp stick :P


	6. Rest and Relaxation

**Chapter 5 – Rest and Relaxation**

Kazuki groaned as his eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light in the room. Someone had opened the windows, casting thick bands of morning sunlight across his bed and onto the floor. Kazuki slowly struggled up into a sitting position, his muscles protesting greatly and his head swimming from the movement. As he looked around, Kazuki realized he had awoken in the hospital. The only decoration in the small room was a single small vase of brightly colored flowers sitting on the table next to him. Leaning up against the vase was a small plain-white card with the shinobi leaf delicately inked onto the front. Curious, Kazuki picked up the card and began reading.

_Get well soon. I've got a surprise for you when you wake up! - Sakura_

_**'Just like Sensei to tease me when I'm unconscious...'**_

_Damn it. I can't believe they're making me do this... Get better already! I can't deal with both of them alone! - Kuma_

_**'His handwriting is all messed up at the end... I bet that's when Sakura-sensei hit him.'**_

_Don't mind him. Kuma is just being an ass like normal. Hurry up and come back to us. - Aiko_

_**'Well that was unexpected. Aiko isn't being violent for a change...'**_

_We need to have a talk... - Naruto_

_**'Naruto... Uzumaki Naruto? The Hokage?!'**_ He stared at the name for a few moments before the door to his room burst open, nearly flying off its hinges in the process.

"Kazuki!" Aiko launched herself across the room and slammed on top of him, eliciting a groan of pain as she enveloped him in a crushing hug.

"Aiko, leave the poor boy alone. He's been through a lot in the last few days." Sakura sighed as she walked through the now slightly out-of-square door, Kuma and Shiromaru right behind her. Aiko blushed furiously and immediately hopped off of her teammate, relocating herself to the chair by his bed in the process.

"Morning sensei..." Kazuki smiled down weakly at Shiromaru as the puppy hopped up into his lap.

"Hey! How come he gets to jump on Kazuki, but I can't?" Aiko huffed and stared at the puppy, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Because Shiromaru doesn't weigh a hundred pounds..." No sooner had the words left his mouth; Kuma found himself being sent crashing to the cold hospital floor by one of Sakura's backhands.

"How are you feeling Kazuki-kun?" Sakura asked as she stepped over Kuma's prone form and made her way to her student's bedside.

"Fine... I think... What happened to me? The last thing I remember is that rock nin trapping me in some sort of jutsu," Kazuki looked down at his hands, his eyes obscured by his bangs, as he slowly pet the small dog in his lap. "Then I was waking up in Kenta-san's house. After that everything is all jumbled up... Something about wolves and a giant forest... I think. I don't really know, most of it's still a blur." Kazuki looked around at his team's faces briefly as they all stared back at him blankly.

"Wolves? There weren't any wolves... Sensei, what the hell is he talking about?" Aiko looked back and forth between Kazuki and Sakura.

"Why don't we leave that topic for a little bit later... We've got a bunch of things to take care of today after all." Sakura smiled softly as she quickly changed the subject and began casting a diagnostic jutsu over Kazuki.

"Sakura-sensei?" Kazuki caught her gaze just as he was about to comment, but thought better of it and quickly changed what he was going to say before he said anything he shouldn't have. "You said you had a surprise?"

"Yep! I just nominated all three of you for the chunin exams in two weeks!" Sakura giggled as she watched all of her student's jaws drop.

"You really think we're ready?" Kuma asked, having finally managed to pry himself off of the floor.

"Of course, Kuma-kun! Our little mission into Tea Country got upgraded to an A rank after all, and I think any team who can handle an A rank and come out alive is more than ready. Plus, you three have done six more D rank missions than my genin team did before we took them, and we took them almost six months after graduating from the academy. Honestly, they're really not as bad as people make them out to be... Well as long as Ibiki or Anko aren't any of the proctors anyway."

"Umm sensei? There was a message from someone named Naruto written on my card that said he needed to talk to me... Is that the Hokage?"

"Ya... It is... That's next on the list. Let's go get you discharged and get it out of the way so you three can get training for the exams." Sakura's cheery disposition immediately melted at the mention of the Hokage's meeting.

* * *

"Woah... Back up a second... You're saying that Kazuki's some sort of demon wolf?!" Kuma's mouth was hanging open as he stared openly at his teammate. Kazuki's gaze was locked firmly onto the floor in front of the Hokage's desk, and had not strayed from there for the entire duration of the meeting.

Naruto glared over his clasped hands at the Inuzuka. He couldn't stand the way the boy was staring at Kazuki; it was far too similar to how he had been treated when he was a child. "Kazuki is NOT a demon! Don't you _dare_ say that again. Don't even _think_ it again. It's that kind of mentality that almost ripped this village apart in the past, and I'll be damned if I let it happen again while I'm Hokage! If I hear those words come out of your mouth again, the only work you'll be getting will be in a kennel, and that's only because I don't want to have to explain to your mother why her son is in the hospital's intensive care unit. Got it?"

Kuma just nodded dumbly as he locked eyes with the Hokage. _**'Are his eyes red? What the hell?'**_

Sakura slowly moved across the room from her position behind her genin, and gently placed her hand on Naruto's shoulder. _**'Naruto... After all this time...'**_

"I'm sorry, Kuma-kun..." Naruto shook his head slowly to clear his thoughts before he continued. "I suppose you're too young to really fault you for what you said. No, Kazuki-kun is not a demon. He _did_ have one sealed in him until recently though. Exactly what's left is still a mystery to us, but I'm sure we'll figure that out eventually." Naruto smiled softly at Sakura before returning his gaze to the genin in front of him.

"Now I'm sure Sakura has all told you that she's nominated you for the chunin exams, but I don't think she's told you about your training assignments. Due to Kazuki's unique situation, you three will each be training under different sensei for the next two weeks." Naruto smiled at the looks on their faces before pressing a button on his desk. "You can send them in now Masami." The doors to Naruto's office opened, and two people walked in. The first was a middle-aged woman in the standard medic robes, her brown hair pulled up into a ponytail, exposing the distinctive Inuzuka clan markings on her cheeks. The second was a rather stoic looking man with long brown hair and milky white eyes.

"Mom?!"

"Yes, Kuma-kun." The woman in the medic coat replied. "You'll be training with me and the Haimaru Sankyodai for the next two weeks." Inuzuka Hana smiled warmly at her son as he spun around to look at his sensei with desperate, pleading eyes.

"You can't! She's going to kill me! There's no way I can survive her training! You've got to help me! Anything but this! Anything!" Kuma begged.

"Oh really? Just for that I'm going to work you twice as hard!" Hana laughed as she crossed the room and grabbed a hold of Kuma by the collar of his jacket with practiced ease. "Come on, let's go. It's nice to see you again Sakura-chan. Hokage-sama." Hana bowed to each in turn as she dragged a kicking and still pleading Kuma out of the office.

"Hello, Aiko-chan."

"Father. It's highly unusual for you to be away from your work. To what do I owe this honor?" Aiko dead paned as she bowed formally.

"About that... Perhaps I've been spending too much time with my work. Ever since Tenten... Well, let us just say that she would not approve of my lack of involvement in your life. I would like to change that."

Aiko's eyes grew wide as the words her father spoke finally registered with her. _**'He **_**never**_** thinks about anything other than his work, let alone mentioning Mother. This isn't like him at all. Not one bit.' **_She quickly schooled her face back into the impassive mask she had learned long ago to wear when dealing with her father, Hyuuga Neji.

"Of course, Father." Aiko bowed low to the Hokage and Sakura before leaving with the older Hyuuga.

"What the hell was that about?" Sakura asked as she watched the doors to Naruto's office close behind the pair.

"Heh... I might have had a talk with Neji a few days ago about spending too much time working and not enough time with Aiko-chan." Naruto smiled and scratched the back of his head as he spoke.

"Well, I hope they work everything out. The last thing she needs is trouble at home."

"Of course, and if they don't... Well, I'll just have to step in again. Now where the hell is Kakashi-sensei." Naruto's smile faded into a thin line as he looked around the room in search for the wayward jonin.

"Kakashi... You knew the consequences if you were late." Naruto sighed as he pulled out a small book and a lighter. "You've got until the count of five before your signed copy of Make Out Tactics goes up in flames. One... Two... Three... Four...Fi"

"Yo." Kakashi called out as he jumped through the window, panting heavily, and looking as if he had just run a marathon. "Sorry I'm late... I had to stop and help a fruit vendor move some crates of strawberries into storage."

"Strawberries are out of season Kakashi... At least you're only a few minutes late this time." Naruto dead paned as Sakura massaged her forehead with her hand.

"Kazuki, this is Hatake Kakashi, our old sensei. He's going to be training you for the next two weeks. He'll be showing you how to use that seal, among other things. Just don't let him read those books of his and you'll be fine."

"Naruto... I'm hurt. You honestly think that I'd ditch him just to go read?"

"Yes." Sakura and Naruto both responded almost immediately.

"In fact, if he ignores your training in favor of that book of his, you have my permission to burn it." Naruto smiled at the look of horror on Kakashi's face.

"And don't be afraid to tell me either Kazuki-kun. I'll be more than happy to show Kakashi-_sensei_ exactly where he should keep that book of his during training." Kakashi visibly paled as Sakura tugged on the edge of her fingerless gloves and winked at him.

"I... I think it's about time we get going. After all, we've only got two weeks to teach you how to use that seal. Come on, you can tell me more about yourself on the way there." Kakashi hesitantly nodded to Naruto and Sakura before opening the door and ushering Kazuki out with a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Sakura?" Naruto spoke softly as he looked from the door back towards the only other occupant of the room. "I'm kind of hungry... Do you want to get something to eat?"

_**'Hell yes!'**_

"Umm... sure thing, Naruto." Sakura nodded, trying desperately to force the blush that was creeping up her neck back down.

"Great! I'll see you at Ichiraku's in ten minutes! I've just got to finish up this paperwork."

* * *

"Ow! Ow! Ow! There's no way that's possible!" Kuma shouted as he struggled to pick himself up off the ground only to fall back down in exhaustion. "Maybe if I had Shriomaru's help, but no way could I do that without him." Kuma whined as he finally picked himself up from the muddy ground, staring at the tiny crack in the granite boulder he was supposed to destroy.

"Oh really? Is that what you think?" Hana smiled at her obviously exhausted son.

"Damn straight! It's just not possible." Hana sighed at her son's use of language, but decided to overlook it for the moment.

"Well then... How about this... If I can break that boulder with just a tsuuga then you don't get to complain for the rest of the two weeks, but if I can't then you don't have to do any chores for a month. How does that sound Kuma-kun?" Hana smiled inwardly as Kuma bobbed his head up and down eagerly.

"Woohoo! I'm not gonna have to do any chores for a month!" Kuma sung as he danced around.

"Tsuuga!" Hana shouted as her body slammed into the boulder, sending shards of rock flying everywhere.

"Hey! Watch where... your... throwing... No way!" Kuma's mouth hung open as he stared at the massive fissure carved into the boulder.

"See? I told you it wasn't impossible. Now I want you to locate the fifty markers in the nearby forest that smell like this." Hana held up a small brown piece of cloth.

"But mom, that's gonna take forever!" Kuma's whining was viciously cut short as his mother whacked him across the back of his skull.

"Remember our little deal? No complaining. Now get going." Hana watched as her son begrudgingly set off into the forest mumbling something about all the girls in his life being violent.

"You can come out now brother... Yes, I know you're there. You never were very good at hiding."

"Damn it Hana, don't you think you're pushing him a little hard?" A man in full ANBU gear and a dog mask responded as he and a large, shaggy, white dog jumped out of the nearby tree.

"Not at all. His team is the runt in this year's test. I'm just trying to make sure he has the best chance of success as possible. Now what brings you back home Kiba-kun?"

"Naruto gave me a few days off after my last mission, so I figured I'd come home and see how my sister, the big-shot clan head, was holding up." Kiba lifted his mask so it sat on top of his hair as he spoke.

"How thoughtful of you. Why are you really here?"

"... My apartment complex is being fumigated. Can I crash here for a few days?" Kiba scratched the back of his head and smiled, flashing his fangs.

"Kami Kiba... I swear one day you're going to be the death of me, little brother. Of course you can stay here." Hana sighed as she shook her head at him as he chatted idly about his apartment complex and it's unusually massive cockroaches.

* * *

"Jeez mom... You put some of these in really hard to find spots." Kuma whined as he returned a few hours later holding a large stack of cloth squares. "Honestly... How the bloody hell did you expect me to find the one in the river? If I hadn't spotted it by accident, I would have been out there forever!"

"Now that's no way to talk to your mother Kuma-chan." Kiba flashed his nephew a feral grin as he pulled Kuma into a bear hug.

"Hey! I'm a ninja now! Stop talking to me like a child damn it."

"I'll stop when you stop acting like one." Kiba barked as he set Kuma back down. "So what's this I hear about you getting into the chunin exams after only a month and a half of active duty?"

"Yep! Sakura-sensei thinks we're already ready. We've even done an A rank mission!"

"An A rank huh?" Kiba let out a low whistle "Sakura must have done a number on you guys to get Naruto to agree for you guys to take the chunin exams already, and from what I've heard, Shino is letting his team try out too... What are they feeding you guys, soldier pills?" Kiba and Kuma both laughed as Hana frowned at the pair of them.

"If you two are done, it's almost nightfall and I still have a dinner to make since _someone_ decided to drop by unannounced." Hana glared at her brother before smiling and ushering the two off towards the house.

* * *

"Aiko, before we begin your training, I have something that I'd like to show you."

"Of course, Father." Aiko bowed low again, completely missing the flinch that shot across her father's face.

Neji left the room, closing the paper door behind him, leaving Aiko sitting on her heels in the center of the otherwise empty room.

_**'Father is acting really oddly. This isn't anything like how he usually is. Actually, this is probably the most he's said to me since Mother died...**

* * *

FLASHBACK_

"Neji-sama... There was no way we could have known it was an ambush. Those Iwa bastards were waiting for us when we got there. Tenten fought bravely... Her sacrifice turned the tide of the battle... If it helps any, she was found surrounded by no less than fifty dead rock nin. She saved a great many people that day, and for that she will always be remembered as a hero." The ninja bowed and slowly backed away from the freshly dug grave, leaving Neji and Aiko alone in front of the cold stone.

"And so swings the sword of fate..." Neji mumbled as he placed the single white lily in his hands on the ground. _**'You always said we could control our destiny. That we could bend fate to our will if we tried hard enough... Did you not try hard enough, or was fate not so simply swayed after all?'**_

A soft sobbing from the ground beside him drew Neji from his thoughts. His only daughter was on her knees crying beside him, a bouquet of flowers crushed to her chest. "Aiko. Do you, or do you not wish to be a ninja?"

"I... I... I do." Aiko sobbed, tears running freely down her face as she traced the letters carved into the stone in front of her.

"Then stop crying. Shinobi do not shed tears. You must learn to master your emotions." Neji turned and walked away from the grave without so much as a glance back. _**'The world continues on, oblivious to our pain, uncaring, and unchanged. Fate is the road we all must walk. To stray from the path of destiny is to invite suffering upon yourself.'**_

_END FLASHBACK

* * *

_Aiko was broken from her thoughts as her father slid open the door and entered the room again. He was carrying a pair of polished white oak boxes, the smaller of the two resting on top of the lager one so that he could carry both at once.

"Daughter, what I'm about to show you is the greatest pride of the Hyuuga clan." Neji sighed slightly as he opened the larger of the two boxes. The interior of the box was covered in violet satin, and sitting atop the mass of cloth was what appeared to be a slightly curved snow-white stick. "Do you know what this is?"

"It looks like a ceremonial katana, Father." Aiko stared at the pristine wooden saya in front of her. There was no tsuba to separate the hilt from the sheath so it appeared to be a single piece of unblemished wood.

"You're partially correct. It is a katana, but it's far from ceremonial. This, dear daughter, is Jiyuuishi . Pick up the sword Aiko. Gaze upon your family's legacy." Neji watched as Aiko delicately picked up the sword and slowly drew out the blade a few inches. He smiled when heard her gasp in surprise.

"How? There's no way this sword could possibly be battle ready!" Aiko was staring down at the 'blade' of the sword, if you could even call it that. It looked more like delicate filigree than the blade of a katana. Instead of a solid gleaming piece of metal, there was a complex maze of thin metal strips bent and stamped into dizzying designs and patterns.

"Father, I could probably break this blade with my bare hands! Half of it is made out of thin air, and the other half probably couldn't support the weight of a child's swing, let alone a ninja's!"

"Looks can be deceiving Aiko-chan. The weapon you're holding in your hands was forged by your mother. She made it as a gift to the Hyuuga clan when we went before the elders to ask for permission to be married." Neji smiled softly as he watched his daughter gaze upon the weapon with a new found reverence.

"Allow me to demonstrate." Neji gently took the sword from his daughter's hands and walked out into the small courtyard that was just outside and motioned for her to follow him. Aiko watched as he held the sword up horizontally in front of him and drew the sheath off of it.

"The power of Jiyuuishi, Aiko-chan, is not in its physical strength, but rather in its unique construction. The metal of this blade is chakra steel, and the patterns and designs are actually extremely complex seals." Neji took a deep breath as he set the saya on the grass next to him and brought the sword to a fighting stance.

Aiko watched, enraptured, as the blade began to glow blue as he walked up to one of the few trees in the small courtyard.

"This..." Neji made a single graceful swing at the tree, the blade passing right though it as if the tree wasn't there at all "Is why it is considered our ultimate weapon."

"But nothing happened!" Aiko shouted as she looked between the tree and the katana, which had returned to its original state.

"Are you so sure about that daughter?" Neji smiled as he tapped the tree just above where the sword had passed through.

Aiko's eyes widened in shock as the tree slid sideways before falling backwards, leaving a perfectly smooth cut just where the sword had passed through moments beforehand.

"A sword is something that cuts. Jiyuuishi is a sword that cuts with chakra. It does not need a material edge because it cuts not with metal, but with its user's will. Do you understand now?"

"I... I think so, but what does this have to do with me, Father?"

"As I told you, your mother made this sword when we got married, but it was not perfect. We were unable to integrate the sword into the Hyuuga fighting style, and as such, Jiyuuishi has sat as a relic of our clan; honored, but unused." Neji sighed before continuing. "When you were born, Tenten vowed to correct her mistakes when she made Jiyuuishi." Neji bent down and returned the sword to its sheath before walking back to the room.

Neji returned the sword to its box and gently closed the lid. He then moved to the smaller box and handed it to his daughter. "These are for you."

Aiko looked between her father and the box before slowly opening it. It was lined with violet satin just like the first box, and resting on the soft cloth were a pair of beautiful bladed tonfa. The blades themselves were constructed from the same dizzying arrays of seals as Jiyuuishi, but instead of a single graceful edge, the tonfa each had three. Two of the edges were fashioned into gentl sweeping curves that formed a vague diamond shape. The third edge of the weapon was a small hook shaped blad that protruded from where the handle met the other edges and swept back towards the tip of the weapon, allowing the blade to be used from any angle. The handles of each tonfa were made from the same unblemished white oak as Jiyuuishi, and each connected to the blade roughly three inches from the front edge, slightly off of center and at the largest part of the blade so as to balance each weapon perfectly. Tied around each handle where it met the blade were a pair of violet tassels that matched the crisscrossing violet wrappings that served to add grip to the wood handles. "I... I... They're beautiful."

"Your mother spent every free moment she had from the time you were two years old up until just before she died working on those. She poured her heart and soul into them. She forgot about her friends, she forgot about training, she forgot about the war, but she never forgot about you. You were her pride and joy, and so she gave everything she had in hope that they would one day protect you when we were not there to. Those are the end result. They are yours now."

"I... I can't take these from you Father. It's the only thing you have left of mom."

"Nonsense. I have you Aiko-chan. That is all I need. I realize that now. When your mother died... I... I was lost. I didn't know how to act, what to do, where to go next. I did the only thing I knew how to do. I brought you up the only way I knew how. I brought you up like a Hyuuga... like how I was brought up.

"I'm sorry Aiko. I've failed you as a father. It took me a long time to see what was happening... too long. I should have listened to Hinata... to everyone. It wasn't until the Hokage told me I was acting like my uncle that I realized what I was doing to you; how much I was hurting you. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Daddy..." The tears Aiko had been fighting back for the last few moments fell freely as she set the box down and launched herself into her father's arms.

"Tenten loved you more than anything else in the world. She would be extremely proud of you. I'm sure that wherever she is, she's looking out for you." Neji smiled softly as he gently rubbed his daughter's back. "I only know the basic forms, but please allow me to teach you how to use them. Let me make up all these lost years to you. Please?"

"Of course! I love you daddy." Aiko sobbed as she held her father closer to herself.

"I love you too Aiko-chan." Neji smiled at his daughter; his first real smile since Tenten had died.

"Do they have names like Jiyuuishi?" Aiko asked as she looked back down at her new weapons.

"I do not know. Tenten always said that she wanted them to have more than a name, that she wanted them to have a soul. She told me once that anyone could give a weapon a name, but it took a special bond to give them something more. I think that, in due time, you'll come to know their true names."

"What do I do first?" Aiko nodded as she looked down at her new weapons.

"Like I said, I only know the very basic forms. Tenten died before we could finish creating the style, but I know enough to continue. Once you learn the basic forms, we can work out the rest of the style. Together." Neji smiled at his daughter as he handed her a simple pair of wooden tonfa to practice with and lead her back into the small courtyard.

* * *

Kakashi walked silently next to his new student, watching him trudge forward through the dense undergrowth of training ground 43 with his eyes on the ground. They weren't in the Forest of Death itself, but it was close enough to put Kakashi on edge.

"So Kazuki, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?"

"Do I have to?" Kazuki kicked a small pebble down the trail they were walking on and made a point to watch it bounce away, deliberately avoiding Kakashi's gaze.

"Of course not, but I'm honestly curious to hear how Yuugao-chan managed with raising a six year old orphan. She never seemed the motherly type." Kazuki's head snapped up and spun around to lock eyes with Kakashi, his cold slate-blue eyes staring back at him.

"Yuugao-oneechan was the first person to ever care about me. You have absolutely no right to insult her like that!" The boy was absolutely seething, and Kakashi found himself taking a step back in surprise as he held up his hands in front of himself.

"Hey now! I didn't mean it like that. Calm down, calm down. I'm sorry, alright?" Kakashi found himself working quickly to calm the boy before he found himself pinned to a tree. _**'Kami... What exactly did you do to make this kid respect you so much Yuugao-chan?'**_

"Look, I didn't mean it like that... I was just trying to learn a bit about you. If I'm going to teach you for the next few weeks, it would help if I knew a bit more about you than your name, right?"

"I guess so... What do you want to know?" Kazuki mumbled as he returned his gaze to the ground.

"About you. About your life. Anything you want to talk about really."

"Honestly, there really isn't much more to say that isn't in those files on me. Yuugao-oneechan took me in when I was six, or at least I think I was around six. She treated me like her own son; she loved me, cared for me, and gave me everything I could have ever asked for. Now that I think about it, I probably didn't deserve someone as good as her... I was always so mean to her. I never accepted anything she did for me. I always made her fight me every step of the way, but who could blame me? I was just a small child that was abandoned in a war zone without any memory of who he was or how he got there." Kazuki kicked another larger rock and sent it hurtling into the trees ahead of them.

"Yet no matter what I did, or how horrible I acted, she would just smile and tell me that she was there for me. It took a long time before I finally realized how much she had actually helped me. When she... when she died during that mission three years ago... It was around then I started to understand how much I had lost... How much I had needed her, and how stupid I had been to push her away, but by then it just didn't matter anymore, did it? She was dead. I never got to thank her... I won't let anyone else close to me die again. I won't."

Kakashi sighed as he watched the anger leave his stormy eyes as they slowly went from a cold blue to a dull green and finally settled to a warm brown.

"You know, I'm starting to see why Naruto-kun thinks you and him are so alike." Kakashi smiled at the boy and continued walking, occasionally asking him a random question to try and learn more about him.

"Ah! Here we are. Alright Kazuki, let's get started shall we?" They were standing in a small clearing deep in the training ground, far away from other people and completely surrounded by dense forest.

"Before I begin teaching you, I need to know how much chakra you can draw with both of the seals active on you. I want you to just stand there and gather your chakra for me. Don't mold it into anything, just slowly gather it until you've got as much as you can handle." Kazuki nodded and did as he was told, a faint blue aura slowly rising up around him as Kakashi activated his sharingan.

"Just as I thought... The outer seal is almost completely suppressing your chakra. I'm going to partially suppress it, and I want you to try again."

Once again Kazuki drew out his chakra, but this time instead of a dull aura, the air around him crackled with deep blue chakra. The more Kazuki concentrated, the deeper and larger the mass of chakra around him got.

_**'Well now... That really is interesting. I'm sorry Kazuki-kun, but I need to know if you have the same issues that Naruto had when he was younger.'**_

"Kazuki... Yuugao never really loved you. She hated every moment she spent with you. You were nothing but a chore to her. A requirement. She didn't choose to watch over you; she was ordered to."

Kazuki's eyes snapped open and locked onto Kakashi's. There was a blinding flash of blue and white as the outer seal shattered, sending a massive wave of chakra outward and bowling Kakashi over in the process.

"That's a lie!" Kazuki roared as more and more chakra spilled out of the seal like an open flood gate.

Kakashi staggered back to his feet just in time to see Kazuki howl and launch himself towards the jonin, his hair streaming out behind him in a gleaming sheet of black as he shot towards the man in a blur of neon blue. Kakashi barely managed to dodge out of the way as Kazuki's fist shattered the tree behind him.

Kazuki whipped around, his cobalt eyes locking onto his target as he launched himself forward for a second attack.

"Fuuin!" Kakashi made a few quick hand seals and reactivated the seal on Kazuki's stomach. The effect was immediate and crippling. Like blowing out a candle, all of the chakra surrounding Kazuki winked out and he promptly crashed face first into the dirt at Kakashi's feet.

"I'm sorry I had to do that Kazuki-kun. I really am. What I just said about Yuugao-chan was a lie. I know for a fact she cared very much about you."

"Then why?" Kazuki breathed out heavily, still unable to move due to the massive strain on his body. He would have screamed at him if he could, but he simply no longer had the energy to do more than raise his head shakily off of the ground.

"It was an order from the Hokage. Naruto-kun wanted to make sure that you didn't have the same... emotional issues that he originally had, and if you did have them, that they were dealt with as soon as possible. Sadly, it appears that the seal that Naruto used has the same weakness as his own. You'll need to learn to control your emotions better Kazuki-kun." Kazuki nodded as he slowly tried to pull himself up out of the dirt, only to fall back down to his knees.

"Easy. Just rest there for a bit. Naruto used to completely pass out after using his chakra like that. I'm surprised you're still conscious at all." Kakashi knelt down next to the boy and handed him a bottle of water.

* * *

"Thanks for waiting for me, Sakura-chan. That paperwork can be a nightmare sometimes." Naruto sat down on the stool next to her as he grinned stupidly at the rosette. _**'I can't believe she finally said yes!'**_

"Naruto, why don't you just use shadow clones to do the work for you?" Sakura commented as she tilted her head to glance at the blond who had sat down next to her. Her small smile turning into a frown as she watched his stupid grin slowly droop into a grimace as if she had suddenly informed him that ramen was disgusting.

"I can't! How could you even say something like that Sakura-chan?! As much as I hate it, the paperwork is important. I can't just trust it to shadow clones. There's no way I'd put the fate of the village into the hands of a copy! I mean, you've seen what they do sometimes... What if they did something stupid? No, I have to do all of the paperwork myself."

"You've grown up so much from the little boy who used to always ask me out on dates..." Sakura mumbled to herself.

"Hmm? You say something Sakura-chan?"

"Me? No, nothing." Sakura sighed. _**'Sakura, you idiot! Why can't I just tell him how I feel? Why is this suddenly so hard?'**_

"Naruto, is that you?" A middle-aged woman peeked out from the back of the shop carrying a massive pot, her long brown hair swept back out of her eyes by a white bandanna. "It is you! I'm sorry, but you're still a little early for lunch. It's going to take me a few minutes to get ready."

"That's okay Ayame-chan. It'll just give me some more time to talk to Sakura-chan!"

"Wait, Sakura's here? Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry Sakura! I didn't see you there."

"That's alright... Do you need any help Ayame-san?"

"No, I think I've got it. You two just sit there and chat, and I'll bring your ramen over in a little bit. I assume you're having your usual Naruto? And what can I get for you Sakura?" Ayame shot Sakura a small smile and gave Naruto a knowing wink, which he completely missed.

"That'll be great!" Naruto smiled, his stomach growling hungrily "Umm... better make that two bowls."

"Miso, please..." Sakura smiled at the woman before glancing back over to her company.

"Hey Naruto? Do you really think sending those kids into the chunin exam this early is the right thing to do? I know you asked me if you thought they could survive, and I think they can, but don't you think you're pushing this on them just a little fast?"

"Sakura... You know what our military force is like at the moment. You know how few ninja we have. Hell, you probably know how much we're hurting right now more than any of us. We need them to get stronger. We need everyone to get stronger. We're running out of time. Actually, we've probably already run out of time. I know they're just children, but you said it yourself; they're ready for this."

Sakura had to prevent her jaw from dropping at the radical swing in tone in her former teammate's voice. One second he was the excessively happy boy she had always known, and then he suddenly turned into the man who ran the entire hidden village; it was just like flipping a switch. _**'You've changed so much... You really have become an amazing hokage, Naruto.'**_

"But... We had three times as much time as they did, and we barely made it through the exams alive, let alone passed. I can't help but think that they might not make it out of this alive..."

"I know you're worried about them, Sakura. Hell I am too, but each one of them has got more training in those two months than we did combined during our six. I'm sure they'll do fine."

"If you say so Naruto..."

"You're worrying too much Sakura-chan. It's just the chunin exam, the war hasn't started yet. They have some time to get the experience they'll need, but we need to deal with missions too, and Konoha is struggling to handle our usual load with what few ninja we have."

"I suppose you're right. It can't be helped. They're ready and the village needs them. I can only hope they're ready enough to survive the second exam..."

"Sakura... Our second exam was hardly usual. We got attacked by Orochimaru for Kami's sake! It's not like there will be any more missing nin attending, or at least I hope there won't be anyway."

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at Naruto's joke as Ayame set two bowls of ramen in front of them and gave Sakura a coy wink. Naruto paused after a few bites of ramen and glanced over at his company for a moment before speaking "Sakura... There's going to be an Iwa genin team in the exam."

"What?!" Sakura choked on the noodles she had in her mouth, coughing for a few moments. "And you want to put six of our best rookie genin in the forest of death with them when they have less than two months of real experience?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Sakura... Listen to me. Remember what the war was like? What do you think will happen to them if you held them back for another six months? Even as genin they'll be expected to serve as soldiers. I'm giving them a chance to prove themselves to the right people in the council. I can get them away from the village. I can buy them the time they need to realize their full potential without them getting handed a sword and being told to go to the front lines, but even as Hokage I can't do it without the support of the council. I'm trying to spare them the hell we went through!" Naruto slammed his fist on the counter, causing their ramen bowls to jump into the air.

Sakura stared back at Naruto, at a complete loss for words. _**'He really does have a plan... I guess I'll just have to trust him.'**_

"Sakura-chan? You okay?" Naruto asked as he leaned forward on his stool to get a closer look to make sure she was alright.

Sakura almost yelled in surprise when she noticed Naruto's face right next to hers. She had completely spaced out, and hadn't noticed him move until he had spoken. "Fine... I'm fine, Naruto-kun."

"... kun?" Naruto just stared back at his pink haired friend. _**'Did she really just call me Naruto-kun, or did I imagine that?'**_

"What?"

"You called me Naruto-_kun_."

"You're hearing things, Naruto." Sakura managed to mumble as she desperately tried to get control of her embarrassment.

"Whatever you say, Sakura-chan."

They spent the next few moments eating in silence, although Sakura could have sworn she had heard Ayame giggling to herself from time to time. Just as Naruto was starting on his second bowl of ramen, a large explosion rocked the small stand, sending everything flying.

"What the hell was that?!" Sakura shouted as she jumped out of her seat to help Ayame stabilize the large ramen pots that had almost fallen off the stove.

"I'm not sure." Naruto mumbled as he got up and moved to look outside, but before he could even move the flaps out of the way, two masked ANBU agents had landed outside and walked in.

"Report."

"Konohamaru again, Hokage-sama."

"I told him to stop his crazy urban training!" Naruto sighed as he slid his hand over his face. "Did he damage anything this time?"

"The north-western corner of a small apartment complex, as well as part of the western wall, including a guard tower." The first ANBU replied.

"You forgot to mention the damage to the street, Eagle-san." The second added.

"Kami... I guess I'll have to handle this one personally... Let's go." Naruto grabbed his hat and followed the two ANBU out of the stand. "Sorry about this Sakura-chan. I'll make it up to you!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder as he jumped to a nearby roof after the pair of ANBU.

"... Hey! Who's going to pay for lunch?! Get back here! Naruto!"

* * *

**A/N:**

**Sorry for the reups, but I had initially uploaded an older copy of the chapter that didn't include the new design for Aiko's tonfa.  
**

Sorry for the rather long wait. I hope the extra thousand words or so makes up for it :P I had a bit of writer's block there for a while, and even after I managed to get past it, parts of this chapter seem kind of sudden and out of place, but frankly I'm tired of dealing with them :P

You also may have noticed that I've stopped translating things in-line. This is because I realized it's getting really repetative, especially during battles, and it's breaking the flow of the story. You'll find all of the translations for anything written in Japanese at the bottom of the chapter in my author's notes from now on.

I know this part of the story seems rushed, but it's honestly not important. It just serves to introduce you to the characters and give you some background on them. I really doubt anyone wants to read about a genin team doing dozens of D-rank missions.

We're also finally done with the 'everyone's useless' bit of the story. The next chapter is the start of the chunin exams (and the REAL story). Things are really going to start picking up now, and the story will slowly start to shift from the genin to Sakura and Naruto (though though the genin will still be a large focus of the story).

Lastly, there's a lot of Japanese weapon terms in this, and probably future, chapters, so I'll save you all the trip to Wikipedia and list them in with the translations.

**Translations:  
**Tsuuga - Peircing Fang  
Jiyuuishi - Litterally means "Free Will"

**Weapon Terms:**  
Saya - This is the sheath of the sword  
Tsuba - This is the flat metal guard that sepperates the hilt from the blade.

Tonfa - Tonfa are the precursor to the English 'billy club' carried by some police officers. They're essentially heavy wooden sticks with a handle about 1/3 of the way in from one end. In the story, the lengths of wood are replaced by blades (Think Talim's weapons from Soul Calibur if that helps any). The exact shape of Aiko's tonfa looks like a drawn out diamond (this part lays flat up against her forarm) so that the weapon can strike from both a foward and backward swing, while the third blade protrudes perpendicularly from the handle so that it can be used to block. The third edge also allows her to strike with the weapon while the blade is pointed back towards her elbows.


	7. Foreign Surprises

**Chapter 6 – Foreign Surprises**

"Ugh... I'm exhausted!" Kuma sighed as he flopped down on the damp grass at Aiko's feet. The two weeks of training for the chunin exams had flown by, despite the grueling pace his mother had set for him, and it was now the day before the exams.

"Kazuki here yet?" Kuma asked as he set Shiromaru down on his forehead to act as a shield from the bright morning sunlight.

"No, not yet..." Aiko had arrived before Kuma had, and since Sakura-sensei had already re-evaluated her skills yesterday, she had been allowed to relax and watch while Sakura tested Kuma's progress.

"I'm sure Kakashi-sensei and Kazuki-kun will be here soon, Kuma-kun. At least for their sake they better be." Sakura sighed. They were already almost forty-five minutes late. _**'I swear... If Kakashi has corrupted Kazuki-kun I'm going to skin him alive with his own dirty novel!'**_

Fifteen more minutes passed without so much as a whisper of either wayward ninja. "Alright! That's it! I'm going to go find Kakashi-sensei and drag his ass back here. You two stay here, I'll be right back." Sakura was about to storm off just as the wind picked up and Kakashi and Kazuki appeared in a swirl of leaves, exactly one hour late to the minute.

Kakashi was standing in his signature pose, completely relaxed, and reading the latest edition of Icha Icha. Sakura couldn't help but wonder how those books were still being written. They were originally published under the pen name Yoku. Fitting enough since the name meant 'lust', but obviously that was not the person's real name, as the books had been written by Jiraiya. Yet, even after Jiraiya's death, the books kept coming out; a new one hit the shelves every six months like clockwork.

Kazuki was standing back to back to Kakashi, mimicking his pose perfectly. _**'You didn't, Kakashi...'**_ He was even reading a small book about the size of Kakashi's, except that this one was bound in black leather and had a shinobi leaf embossed on its cover._** 'Oh Kami, you did! If that book he's reading is smut, I'm going to make sure you walk funny for the rest of your life!'**_

Just as Sakura was about to open her mouth to verbally bash Kakashi's head in, she noticed the small smile playing across Kazuki's face, and it wasn't the same kind of perverted smirk that she always imagined Kakashi wore when he read his books. _**'Kazuki's smiling? He's actually smiling out in the open, and no one's had to force it out of him? What the hell is going on?'**_

"Kakashi! You're an hour late!"

"Yo. Sorry about that, I had to get something for Kazuki-kun here." Kakashi smiled under his mask as he watched Sakura's face contort with the effort of suppressing her rage. _**'I forgot how much fun it was to tease her. I'll have to do this more often.'**_

"Never mind..." Sakura sighed. "Kazuki-kun why don't you spar with Kuma-kun so I can see how much you've improved."

"Yes, Sensei." Kazuki looked up from his book, nodded once at Sakura, and then walked over towards Kuma as his eyes drifted back down to the pages.

"Kakashi... Please tell me that book he's reading is nothing like yours..."

"Of course not, Sakura-chan." Kakashi eye-smiled at her. "It's a journal, well a diary actually. It was one of Yuugao-chan's. I kind of owed him something for all the hell I put him through these past two weeks. Besides, the new Icha Icha books are nothing like the old ones. This 'Ai' person has a real way with words. You'd actually probably enjoy the new ones, now that I think about it."

Sakura was taken aback by her former sensei's thoughtfulness. Not only was it nothing like what she had expected, it was one of Kakashi's few open acts of kindness. _**'Kakashi usually opts for a cool and impassive attitude. Something must have happened between those two.'**_

"Err... No thanks, Kakashi-sensei. Wait... did you say Yuugao-chan? As in Kazuki's adopted mother?" Sakura had obviously read the files on all of her students, but the subject of Kazuki's surrogate mother always seemed to be taboo. Nobody seemed to ever discuss it, and Kazuki just seemed to become depressed whenever she was mentioned.

"That's the one."

"Why would you give him something like that all of a sudden?"

"He asked. Oh look! They're are about to start. I think you'll be impressed with what I've managed to do with him in such a short amount of time. He's really come out of his shell." Kakashi eye-smiled at his former student again as she just stared at him gaping like a fish out of water.

* * *

Kuma's eyes slid from the book in Kazuki's hand, then back to his face. "Aren't you going to put that thing away so we can spar?"

"I'd rather not if I don't have to..." Kazuki looked down at the cover his book for a moment before opening it back up to the page he was on.

"Whatever, but don't think I'm going to go easy on you because of it!"

Kazuki's eyes flicked up and glanced at Kuma for a moment before smirking at him and his right hand dipped into his kunai pouch, his left still holding his place in the book. "I'm ready whenever you are."

Kuma was actually caught off guard by his teammate's sudden swing in demeanor, and it took him a few seconds before he managed to reply. "If you say so, Kazuki. Alright Shiromaru, you know what to do." Kuma threw a pair of shuriken at Kazuki to cover his puppy's retreat. Kazuki easily dodged the pair of thrown weapons without even taking his eyes off of the book.

"You've gotten better Kazuki! Let's see how you do against this!" Kuma yelled as he charged his teammate with his kunai drawn. Kazuki easily danced backwards, dodging every one of Kuma's strikes at the cost of being driven backwards towards a nearby tree.

"Shiromaru, now!" The puppy bolted out of the tree and launched himself at Kazuki's head. Unfortunately, Kazuki ducked, and Shiromaru slammed into Kuma's chest instead. The puppy whined at his master for a few seconds before jumping down to stand at his side.

"What do you mean _'doesn't smell like him' _?" Kuma looked between Shiromaru and Kazuki for a moment before realizing his mistake. "Shit!"

"Too late." Kazuki said as he vanished in a puff of smoke, and the real one shimmered into view behind Kuma. "Raiton: Mahi!" Kazuki's hand shot out and wrapped around the back of Kuma's neck just as the boy was about to turn around. There was a sudden flash of light and a crackling sound, and then Kuma fell to his knees.

"You won't be able to move for at least ten minutes." Kazuki explained as he turned the page of his book.

"Nice try Kazuki!" The pair exploded in twin poofs of smoke, leaving Shiromaru in Kuma's place and Kuma in Shiromaru's.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu?" Kazuki asked as he eyed the change in position over the top of his mother's diary.

"Yep! Hiko-Koinu Kawarimi no Jutsu!" Kuma flashed his feral grin before getting onto all fours. "Shikyaku no Jutsu! Tsuuga!" Kuma instantly closed the tiny space between them and rammed into Kazuki, only for him to burst into smoke as well. "A bunshin? What the hell?"

"Not quite. It was a Kage Bunshin" Kazuki's voice drifted over the battlefield as Kuma frantically looked around for his target.

"Up here." Kazuki was standing on a branch of a tree half way across the training field. "I was kind of hoping to read more of onee-chan's journal. Oh well, I guess I'm going to need both hands after all." Kazuki sighed and slid the book into his kunai pouch and made a few quick hand seals. "Raiton: Ohkami Touei no Jutsu!" Lightning enveloped Kazuki's hand as he finished the seals before it arced forward, screaming towards Kuma and taking on the form of a wolf as it went.

"Shit!" Kuma shouted and ran to the side, only to watch in horror as the lightning adjusted its course and continued to close the distance to him. _**'Come on, Kuma! Think!'**_ Kuma's eyes followed the trail of electricity from the wolf back to Kazuki. _**'That's it!'**_ Kuma jammed his hand into his pouch and pulled out a pair of kunai and a long length of ninja wire. With surprising speed, Kuma fastened a kunai to each end of the wire and threw it, aiming one kunai at the wolf, and another for Kazuki.

The kunai slammed into the wolf and the lightning immediately diverted from its course to follow the wire, but before it could reach Kazuki, he released the technique and dodged the kunai.

* * *

"Kazuki-kun sure seems unusually enthusiastic today." Kakashi smiled as he watched as Kazuki unleash a second lightning wolf.

"Kakashi-sensei..."

"Hmm? What is it Sakura-chan?"

"Just what did you do to him?" Sakura asked as she watched Kazuki nimbly dodge a Gatsuuga from Kuma.

"Talked."

It took a moment for Sakura to comprehend what the masked ninja had just said. _**'Talking did **_**this**_** to him?'**_

"Don't give me that look, Sakura-chan. The boy is exceptionally smart. He just was never given the chance. Honestly, I'm surprised no one's picked up on it until now, especially considering his academy teacher was Shikamaru."

"He always told me that he wondered why the boy didn't apply himself..." The realization of exactly what had happened in the two weeks with Kakashi finally dawned on Sakura. _**'You gave him something he never had before. You gave him a reason to apply himself.'**_

"He just needed a little nudge, and the proper motivation. That boy is going to give Naruto a run for his money one of these days." Kakashi smiled as he turned his attention back onto the fight, only to frown at the two genin. "Excuse me for a moment, I'll be right back."

* * *

Kazuki was breathing hard as he stared at his sparing partner. He had improved so much in two weeks, but Kuma had focused almost entirely on his taijutsu, and he was proving to be a very difficult target to hit now that he had figured out a counter to the homing properties of his best technique.

"Alright, that's it. You wanted me to not hold back, you've got it!" Kazuki started making very deliberate, and very slow, hand seals. It was almost as if he was unsure of the technique he was about to unleash. "Godai Tomedate Kaiin, Raikou!"

Just before Kazuki finished the final seal, Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of the raven-haired genin, snatching his wrist and preventing him from completing the technique. "Now, now, Kazuki-kun. There's no need to resort to something like that in a simple spar." Kakashi spoke as he released his hand, and leaned in to whisper something in Kazuki's ear.

"I understand, Kakashi-sensei." Kazuki replied in an equally soft voice.

"Good, and remember not to try something like that again in a simple spar. You could have killed him." Kakashi patted him on the shoulder and glanced back across the field only to find Sakura glaring at him. "Err... I better get back to Sakura before she starts throwing things." Kakashi mumbled before shushin'ing back over to the irate jonin.

* * *

"What was _that_ all about Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura tilted her head and stared at the man who just interrupted her genin's spar.

"Eheheh... Sorry about that Sakura-chan. I just didn't think Naruto would appreciate Kazuki-kun ripping apart a training ground right before the chunin exams."

"Eh?! Kazuki can do something like that after only two weeks of training?" Sakura's mouth was hanging open as she stared back and forth between Kazuki and Kakashi.

"Well, not on purpose... The technique he was about to use unseals more of his chakra and allows him to manipulate it into a specific element so he can use it while still learning to get the others under control. Unfortunately, he hasn't quite mastered it yet, and just unsealing it could have discharged enough static electricity to fry everything in the immediate area."

"... I see. You're going to have to fill me in on _everything_ that happened during his training." Sakura glared at him until Kakashi gulped and nodded his agreement.

"Good." Sakura turned her attention to her three genin. "Alright you guys! Why don't you three take the rest of the day off and get some rest." Sakura yelled over to her team who promptly nodded and waved goodbye before running off.

"Alright Kakashi. Let's go get some lunch... You're buying." Sakura smiled as she watched Kakashi's step falter ever so slightly. _**'That'll teach you to try and tease me, Kakashi-sensei!'**_

* * *

"Ugh! Just like mom to do something like this! I can't believe she just dumped us off at the gates. Sometimes she's just so... so troublesome!" The young girl in the middle of the group shouted at no one in particular as she tugged on the bottom two of her four short black ponytails. Her black kimono was pulled open as if it were swelteringly hot out, revealing her white shirt and the Suna forehead protector tied around her neck. A pair of battle fans were tucked into her obi, crisscrossing behind her back.

"That's no way to talk about Temari-sensei, Miyako." The shorter boy responded as he brushed his messy brownish-red hair out of his eyes, the rest of it framing his face and sticking out at odd angles as if he had just slept on it. "We just need to get to the Hokage tower. It's not like we've never been there before." The boy added as he hefted the large gourd of sand at his feet back onto his shoulder and adjusted the thick leather belt that held it in place. "And it's not going to get any closer if we don't start heading there now." He added as he fixed the long white band of cloth he wore wrapped over his simple black ninja cloths, causing the forehead protector that was wrapped around the gourd's sash to glint in the sun.

"Oi Sunako, you're so stuck up. Temari-oneechan is our aunt for Kami's sake!" The third taller boy commented as he lowered the hood of his full length sand-colored cloak, revealing his short brown hair. Under the cloak he was wearing the standard black ninja attire, with the exception of an unusual number of scroll pouches on his belt next to his forehead protector. "It's not like we don't have some time to relax or anything. The check-in deadline isn't for another four hours after all." He flashed his teammates a grin, which looked extremely odd given the purple lines painted across his face.

"Yes, she's our aunt, Takumi. She's also our sensei, and you know how she gets if you do not show her proper respect. Do you really want to be dodging kunai for the next three hours for not calling her Temari-sensei? I certainly do not." Sunako responded as he began walking down the main street of Konoha, forcing his two teammates to follow after him.

* * *

"Hey, Kazuki-kun. What was that technique you were about to use before Kakashi-sensei stopped you?" Aiko tilted her head and glanced over at the unusually talkative boy to her left.

"It's used to remove the limitations on my seal. Kuma was too fast for me to be able to hit normally, so I was going to step up my attacks..."

"Why did Kakashi-sensei stop you then?" Kuma asked as Shiromaru yipped from his resting spot on his master's head.

"Umm... It could have killed you... I... I don't exactly have that particular technique completely under control at the moment."

"Killed him? How could just releasing your chakra kill him?" Aiko asked, confused.

"I have a _lot_ of chakra..." Kazuki turned his gaze from his teammate back to the road in front of him, evading the question.

Just as Kuma was about to comment on Kazuki dodging the question, a movement in a nearby alleyway drew his attention. "Someone's in the alley!" Kuma immediately spun into a defensive position as Shiromaru jumped off his head.

"Hey... Isn't that... Shikamaru-sensei?!" Aiko's mouth dropped open as she noticed her academy teacher leaning up against another person. _**'Is he...'**_

"Oh. My. God! He's _kissing_ someone!" Aiko nearly screamed as she pointed into the alley, drawing the attention of the two people hidden there.

Having heard all the shouting Aiko was doing, Shikamaru broke off his kiss and looked over his shoulder. "Tch... Troublesome." The woman who was leaning against the wall just rolled her eyes at him.

"Holy crap, Sensei! You have a girlfriend?! I totally thought you were way too lazy for something like that!" Aiko had already crossed the distance to the alleyway, and was now looking the woman up and down.

"Believe it or not, Aiko-chan, even I'm not that lazy." Shikamaru sighed.

"Yes, you are." The woman interjected. "Well? Aren't you going to introduce me, Shika-kun?" The woman smiled sweetly and slapped him on the shoulder when he didn't immediately respond, causing him to take a half-step backwards.

"Ow..._ troublesome blond._" Shikamaru mumbled.

"What was that?" The woman slapped him on the shoulder again, harder this time.

"Ow! Damn it woman, that hurts!" Shikamaru rubbed his shoulder. "Fine... Aiko-chan, Kuma-kun, Kazuki-kun. This is Sabaku no Temari."

"His wife, _Nara_ Temari." Temari added as she bowed while still managing to send a glare at Shikamaru. "Pleased to meet you three. I assume you're some of Shika-kun's recent graduates? Are you looking forward to your team assignments?"

"We've been genin for two months already! We're taking the chunin exams tomorrow!" Kuma barked, causing Temari to raise an eyebrow at her husband who merely shrugged.

"Hey! You're not from around here are you? Oh my god! You're from Suna! So that's why we've never seen you before! What's Shikamaru-sensei really like?" Aiko babbled almost incoherently.

"Well aren't you a talkative one? Yes, I'm from Suna. Yes, that's probably why you've never seen me, although I do stop by Konoha every now and again when I can manage it. About the same as normal, I'd suppose. Was that everything?" Temari laughed. "You and Miyako-chan would get along splendidly!"

"Who's Miyako-chan?"

Temari looked up at the sun and swore under her breath. "Shit! I'm sorry Shika-kun, you three, I've got to go. I'm late for a meeting." She said as she promptly vanished in a swirl of sand.

"Don't you three have exam forms to turn in?" Sikamaru sighed and gave the three genin a look.

"Shit! I almost forgot!" Aiko shouted. "Come on, we don't want to miss the deadline!"

* * *

"Nice of you to be on time this time Kazuki..." Kuma drawled lazily as he pushed himself off of the tree just outside of the academy.

"That... was not my fault. It was Kakashi-sensei's idea. He said he 'wanted to irritate Sakura-chan for old time's sake' whatever that means."

"Well, we're all here now. What are we waiting for?" Aiko added as she started towards the building, but they didn't make it further than the second floor before being halted by a large crowd of people.

"Wonder what's going on..."

"Hey! You guys can't just tell us we can't go into the exam room like that!"

"Ya! Who gave you the right?"

"Trust me, you guys are just going to get killed. Quit now while you still have a chance."

Kuma craned his neck over the mass of people to get a better look at what exactly was going on. "Looks like there's a couple of guys blocking the door to the exam room. I can't believe people are just letting them tell them that they're not good enough like that!"

"Exam room... Aiko... What floor are we on?" Kazuki asked as he tilted his head to look at his teammate.

"Umm... We're on the third, aren't we?"

"I thought so too... It looks like the third floor, but we're not high enough up. I can't see the tops of the buildings out of that window." Kazuki nodded to the window on his left. "Can you... you know... with your eyes? But don't let anyone see you do it. I think they might be testing us already."

"Got it." Aiko mumbled under her breath and her eyes quickly changed only to change back almost immediately. "You're right... There's definitely a genjutsu on this hallway."

"So they are testing us... Let's go back the other way." Kuma suggested as they retreated back to the stairwell.

"Hey! Watch where the hell you're going!"

"I'm sorry... I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking." Aiko apologized automatically before even looking at the person she had bumped into. "Hey you look like Temari-san! Do you know Shikamaru-sensei?"

"... Temari-san? How do you know my mother?" Miyako asked as she looked the three younger genin over.

"We saw her kissing our academy teacher." Kazuki mumbled when it became obvious that Aiko didn't know how to answer, and Kuma was struck dumb and just staring at the girl with his mouth open.

"Figures... Ugh! I don't have time for you brats." Miyako sighed as she shoved her way past Aiko and headed up the stairs, followed closely behind by a boy in a tan colored cloak.

"Please forgive her... Miyako can be rather... abrasive sometimes." A voice came from behind Aiko, causing her to jump and spin around wildly, pulling a kunai in the process. "Forgive me. I did not mean to startle you." Sunako added as he deftly stepped back to avoid Aiko's panicked attack.

_**'When did he... I didn't even feel him come up behind me... This guy is unreal!'**_

"Umm... It's okay. I didn't mean to attack you like that..." Aiko blushed and put the kunai away, having just noticed she was still holding it.

"Do not worry about it. Unfortunately, I do need to end this conversation. I really must get back to my team." No sooner had the words left his lips, he was already on the next landing, and turning out of sight.

"Jeez... Let's hope we don't come up against those guys in the exams. That red haired boy is unreal." Aiko mumbled to herself as she shook her head.

"I'd be more worried about the girl... The boy seemed calm enough... The girl however..." Kazuki let his thoughts wander off as they continued up the stairs and onto the real third floor.

"Sakura-sensei?" Kuma noticed the pink haired woman talking to someone in a full-body green jumpsuit and a bowl shaped haircut.

"Ah! There you three are. I was beginning to worry that Kurenai-san had made the genjutsu too strong."

"It wasn't that hard to spot once Kazuki-kun noticed something wasn't right."

"Yosh! Your fires of youth are most beautiful! Sakura-chan you must introduce me to your wonderful genin!" The man with the bowl shaped haircut and unusually bushy eyebrows shouted enthusiastically.

"Oi... There's no reason to yell Lee. Aiko-chan, Kuma-kun, Kazuki-kun, this is Rock Lee. He was your parent's third teammate, Aiko-chan."

"Ah! So you are are Neji-kun's daughter! It is such a shame that we have not had a chance to meet until now, but I am glad to see that your fires of youth burn brightly indeed!"

"Err... Thanks... I guess?" Aiko shuddered involuntarily as Lee struck a pose.

"Look at the time! You three better get inside. Good luck!" Sakura ushered her students through the door just as Lee started up another round of 'fires of youth' talk.

* * *

The classroom was absolutely crammed with people. The single desks that used to occupy it were gone, replaced instead by at least three dozen longer tables.

"Oi! I can't believe they're even letting you three compete. You're just gonna fail out anyway." Kuma looked over his shoulder to find Sarutobi Toshi and the rest of his team leaning against the wall adjacent to the door they had just come through.

"Ya? We'll just see about that, won't we Toshi-_ouji_?" Kuma growled as he stared at the taller boy, Shiromaru barking his agreement.

"Ya, we will. Though if you're our competition, I don't think it's going to be too hard." Toshi smirked as Aiko had to physically restrain Kuma to prevent him from lunging at the other boy.

"You think you can beat me, huh? Come on! We'll kick your ass right now!"

"Hey! Don't talk to Toshi-kun like that!" Yamanaka Kaoru shouted back at the Inuzuka as she brandished her plum colored hair brush at him like a kunai.

"Please don't fight... We could all get disqualified from the exams..." Umino Nori tried to step between the two fighting boys, only to back away after getting glared at by both of them.

"Alright! Settle down! Everyone take a seat! Teams together!" Yamanaka Ino shouted as she opened the door to the classroom and strode inside.

"Now shut up and listen because I'm only going to go over this once. My name is Yamanaka Ino, and I'm in charge of the first exam, which by the way is a written test." Ino smiled inwardly at the collective groan from the genin. "You'll be taking the exam as a team, and as such, you'll pass or fail as a team. The test consists of ten questions, the first nine of which will be given out at the start of the test. The final question will be given out fifteen minutes before the end of the exam. The first nine questions are each worth ten points. The final question is worth fifty. You must score a 120 or higher in order to pass.

"The rules are simple: First, whatever I say goes. Second, if myself, or one of the chunin proctors, tells you that you've failed, you've failed. End of discussion. Third, absolutely no questions. Fourth, the only people you're allowed to talk to during the exam are your teammates. Fifth, no one leaves the room until the exam is over unless you've been asked to leave by a proctor. I don't care if you've really _really_ got to pee, hold it in." Ino counted off the rules on her fingers as a pair of chunin passed out the exam papers.

"You have one hour starting... now."

* * *

"Oh man... There's no way we'll be able to answer all of these in an hour!" Kuma sighed. _**'This is going to be harder than I thought...'**_

"... I think that may be the point. There's no way we could answer all of these on our own."

"So you think we're supposed to _cheat_?!" Aiko looked over at Kazuki and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yamanaka-san didn't mention that it was against the rules, just that we can be failed at any time... I think we're supposed to cheat _without being caught_." Kazuki responded in a hushed whisper.

"Oh! You think they're testing our information gathering skills?" Aiko whispered back.

"I think so, but I could be wrong. This could ruin our shot at the exams. It's up to you two."

"There's no way we're going to get these answered by ourselves in time."

"Let's give it a try." Aiko nodded once before silently activating her byakugan.

"I... I think you're right, Kazuki-kun... I found a team with all nine questions already answered. That shouldn't be possible unless they're not really genin." Aiko commented as she began copying down the answers.

* * *

Ino smiled from her position seated on the teacher's desk as she watched Aiko activate her bloodline ability. _**'Well you three certainly caught on fast. You really made out like a bandit with them, Sakura-chan.'**_ Ino mused to herself as she glanced over at her daughter's team, who was busy arguing animatedly amongst themselves. _**'Why can't they have the same kind of teamwork...'**_

"Row 5. Desk 3. Fail." Ino commented offhandedly as one of the mirrors some grass nin were using to cheat flashed sunlight in her eyes.

* * *

"Alright, you have fifteen minutes left! It's time for the last question, but before I give it to you, you need to make a choice. If you choose to answer the tenth question, and you fail, you'll be barred from ever taking the chunin exams again. If you choose to not answer the question, you'll still fail, but you'll be able to walk out of here and take the exam again in six months. If you want out, now's your chance." Ino motioned to the classroom door that had just been opened, and sat back to watch the genin sweat it out.

It didn't take long for the first team to stand up and walk out the door, and after that it was like opening a flood gate. By the time Ino closed the classroom door again, almost half of the teams that were still left after the first 45 minutes had walked out of the room on their own accord.

"Here's the tenth question: During this exam, several things were unusual, list at least three of these and explain why they're odd. Write your answers on the back side of your test."

* * *

"Well? I can't think of anything besides having to cheat in order to pass... What about you two?" Aiko put her head in her hands as she stared at the back of their test.

"One of the 'chunin proctors' is actually an ANBU."

"Wah? How do you know that Kuma?" Aiko glanced at her teammate through her bangs.

"When he was failing one of the other teams, his shirt sleeve road up his arm as he was pointing towards the door. I saw the tattoo."

"Well there's one. How about you Kazuki?"

"... There's an extra tree in the courtyard. There should only be one... The one with the swing, but there's two."

"Genjutsu... Alright, we just need one more." Aiko sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

"Hey... Didn't that Yamanaka lady have blue eyes when we met her on that roof repair mission?"

"Ya, what about it Kuma?"

"She has green eyes now."

"You're right! There we go." Aiko finished writing just as Ino called time.

* * *

"Well? How did they do Ino-chan?" Sakura asked as soon as Ino entered the small conference room she and Shino were waiting in.

"Both of your teams passed, though I must say that your team, Sakura-chan, surprised me. They were the first ones to catch on to what they needed to do, and seemed to work together quite well despite the short amount of time they've been working together."

Shino raised a single eyebrow at Ino's comment. "Which means that my team did not fare as well?"

"They spent half of the test arguing with each other. I'm surprised they managed the time to answer the questions at all, but they did get them all correct in the end."

"I see." Shino sighed slightly to himself, causing both Sakura and Ino to look at him oddly. "I should go congratulate them, and perhaps have another talk about the importance of teamwork, if you'll excuse me." Shino bowed to the two women before leaving the room.

"Did Shino actually show some emotion just now?" Ino blurted out the second the door had closed.

"I think he did... For them to get Shino-san riled up enough that he's actually showing it visibly, they must be a handful." Sakura mused. "Well, I suppose I should probably get going as well. I'm sure my genin are expecting me by now." Sakura smiled as she turned to leave the room.

Ino's voice, however, stopped her before her hand even made it to the doorknob. "Sakura... There's something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"Eh? What is it Ino-chan?" Sakura asked over her shoulder.

"Erm... How do I say this... It's about Naruto-kun." Ino mentally flinched as Sakura spun around to stare at her.

"What, exactly, about Naruto-kun?"

"He... He seems really stressed lately. He was showing signs of a nervous brake-down when I dropped off the chunin exam results just now. I haven't exactly kept up my medical studies since I went into the investigation division, but he looked pretty damn rattled to me. I don't really know what's going on, or what to do about it, but he's been like this for a couple of days now, and I figured you might want to know."

"Why do you care so much all of a sudden, Ino-chan?" Sakura eyed her friend nervously. _**'Naruto? On the verge of a nervous brake-down? MY Naruto? Either something is seriously wrong, or Ino's seeing things.'**_

"Because he's important to you... and you're my best friend. Plus, he's our Hokage, as unbelievable as that still seems, and you're the best medic in the village. If anyone can help him, you can."

"I... umm... Thank you, Ino. I'll see what I can do. We can't have our Hokage breaking down on us, now can we?" Sakura managed a weak smile as she left the room. _**'Something is seriously wrong... Better make the congratulations quick and get to the bottom of this.'**_

Unfortunately for Sakura, the congratulations ended up being anything but quick. No sooner had the words left her mouth, she found herself being dragged to a restaurant by her genin, all of them insisting that she pay of course. By the time she managed to find a believable excuse to leave it was dusk, and by the time she reached the tower it was starting to get dark.

"Ah! Masami-san. Just the person I was looking for! Is Naruto-kun still here?" Sakura asked as she landed next to the woman just outside of the main entrance.

"The Hokage left about an hour ago, Sakura-san. Did you need him for something?"

"It's nothing important Misami-san... Thanks anyway though." Sakura sighed as she jumped onto the roof of a nearby building.

'_**He wasn't at the academy, his home, or Ichiraku's either... Just where the hell did you go, Naruto?'**_

Sakura stared up at the Hokage monument, deep in thought. _**'They still haven't gotten around to adding Naruto up there. I bet that's the damn council's fault... Again. One of these days I'll set them **__**straight... He deserves better.'**_ Just as her eyes scanned over the face of Namikaze Minato, something shifted on the top of the mountain. _**'Of course! How could I forget there!'**_

* * *

If Naruto had heard her land behind him, he didn't respond. The man the village had finally recognized as their Hokage was sitting cross-legged on the top of the Fourth Hokage's head, his back to Sakura as he stared out over the village, watching the sea of lights.

"... Naruto?" Sakura called out cautiously as she took a few small steps towards him. He didn't respond.

"Naruto, what's wrong?" Sakura asked, slightly louder than before, but once again got no reaction from the blond.

"... Did something happen?"

Naruto could hear someone talking to him, he could sense the worry in their voice, but he couldn't make himself pay attention to it. He had far too many things on his mind; far too many problems, and not nearly enough solutions. He heard the person take another step, say something, and then kneel down behind him. He just didn't care enough to turn around and see who it was. He nearly jumped out of his skin, however, when he felt a pair of slender arms slide over his shoulders and pull him into a hug.

"Please, tell me what's wrong. I want to help..." Sakura whispered, her forehead resting against the back of his neck.

"I... I don't know if I can handle this, Sakura-chan."

"Handle what?"

"The village... The war... Everything. Everyone expects me to have all of the answers. I was never good at this political stuff... Baa-chan... Baa-chan was supposed to help me, but she's gone now. They're all gone now..."

"Shh... It'll be okay Naruto. We'll figure something out together, alright?" Sakura whispered softly as she held the blond to herself.

"... Things have started to go missing..."

"Missing? Like what?"

"Little things... Like one of the ANBU patrol schedules vanished for about thirty minutes earlier this week. The day after that, one of our messenger hawks disappeared..."

Sakura could feel him tense up in her arms. _**'He's not telling me something...'**_

"... And?" Sakura could feel him trembling in her arms. _**'Is... Is he crying?**_

"It's... It's nothing, Sakura-chan..." Naruto managed to mumble out, his voice cracking slightly.

"Naruto-kun... Please tell me what's wrong. I can't help if you won't tell me what is going on." Sakura unwrapped one of her hands and slowly began rubbing his back in small circles. _**'He IS crying... What in Kami's name has gone wrong to make Naruto, of all people, break down like this?'**_

"Today... Kazuki's medical records seem to have been misplaced."

"Naruto... Things like that don't just get misplaced..." Sakura's eyes widened at the implications of that simple statement. The hospital's record room was one of the most secure areas in the village, second only to the Hokage's personal archives. For someone to have stolen records from there was certainly reason for serious concern, and brought up several disturbing possibilities. Then there was the fact that the records in question pertained not only to one of her genin, but also to a boy who formerly housed a demon, and a rather powerful one at that, from what little she'd seen so far. _**'If those records got into the wrong hands... Kazuki-kun could be in a lot of danger.'**_

"... I know. I know exactly who's behind it, but I can't do anything without proof, and we've had ANBU surveillance on them since they got within 20 miles of the village. They never moved, yet things are happening that fit their profile perfectly."

"You think it's that team from Iwa, don't you?"

"I know it is... It's the only reason the Tsuchikage would have been so insistent that he send a team. If they even guess at what Kazuki might be..." Naruto shuddered, causing Sakura to hold him tighter.

"And I can't do anything about it!" Naruto slammed his fist into the stone he was sitting on. "If I call them out on it, Konoha will be painted as the instigator and the war will be started with the world thinking Iwa is in the right. I cannot let that happen. I won't let that happen... I owe it to far too many people to let this village be seen as an evil in this world, so the only thing I can do is sit here and wait for something to happen... and I hate it." Naruto hung his head forward, his face in his hands. Sakura was sure that he was crying now, but she would never tell a soul. _**'If anyone deserves a chance to let everything out, it's him.'**_

"I feel so absolutely useless! I'm stuck behind that damn desk signing paperwork and trying as hard as I can not to fuck up the village's standing when I should be out there beating the information out of those Iwa bastards. I should be preventing this war, not waiting for it to happen!" Naruto shouted as he fisted his hands in his hair in frustration.

"Naruto... I once asked Tsunade-sama how she dealt with knowing that she had to stay in the village and let others fight all the battles. She said 'Why do you think I drink so damn much? It doesn't hurt as bad when I can't think straight.'"

"I tried that... On more than one occasion. It doesn't work. No matter how much I drink I can't get drunk... Stupid Kyuubi..."

"... Then she told me 'Being Hokage is not about being able to fight every battle for everyone. It's about guiding the village in its time of need, and if need be, picking up the pieces when everything is all said and done. Everyone sees the Hokage as the pinnacle of the village's ninja. Very few people see the Hokage for what they really are: They're the heart and soul of the village. They're the pillar of support that we lean upon in times of need. They're the final insurance that our way of life will persevere. That is what it's like to be Hokage, and that is why I endure the pain of knowing that I might have made a difference if I were out in the field.'"

"... You're right, Sakura-chan." Naruto sniffled and Sakura slid back a few inches as Naruto gained some control over his emotions and turned around to face her. "What am I saying? Of course you're right. You're the smartest kunoichi of our generation after all." Naruto managed a small smile. "I'm sorry you had to see me like this, but... I'm glad it was you and not someone else. Thank you for being such a great friend, Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he bowed low in front of her, his head touching the top of his knees.

The gesture caught Sakura completely by surprise. _**'Why is he bowing to me? Naruto never bows to anyone unless he respects them completely... I don't deserve that kind of respect... not from him... not after all of the time I spent ignoring him.'**_

Sakura slid her hand under his chin and gently pulled him back into a sitting position. "Don't ever bow down, Naruto-kun. Not to me, not to anyone."

Naruto looked at her confusedly for a moment before a small smile crossed his lips "You called me Naruto-kun."

"Yes... I suppose I did."

* * *

Thank god that's over with! Sorry for the unexpected delay folks, but the last half this chapter took _for ever_ to actually polish up to a decent level. Things are finally starting to heat up, and the second test is up next.

In regards to Kazuki's sudden personality shift, he's finally gotten some measure of closure in regards to how he treated his foster mother, and thanks to Kakashi's help, he's finally starting to show what he's really like. As for how the outer seal functions, it limits the amount of elemental chakra Kazuki can mold normally, and by releasing a specific element he can gain full access to a specific elemental manipulation. Since he can't control them, the seal prevents him from inadvertently destroying his own chakra coils by trying to mold chakra in too many directions at once. This will likely come up at some point later on in the story, but I didn't want you guys confused until then XD

Lastly, just in case it didn't come off clearly enough, Naruto still thinks Sakura is just his friend. He just finally realized that she considers him as much of a friend as he considers her, and for a man who's had very people actually care about him, this is a rather big deal.

Techniques:  
Raiton: Mahi – Lightning Release: Paralysis  
Hiko-Koinu Kawarimi no Jutsu – Boy-Puppy Substitution Technique  
Shikyaku no Jutsu – Four-legged Technique  
Tsuuga – Piercing Fang  
Kage Bunshin – Shadow Clone  
Raiton: Ohkami Touei no Jutsu – Lightning Release: Wolf Projection Technique  
Gatsuuga – Dual Piercing Fang  
Godai Tomedate Kaiin, Raikou – Five Elements Restraining Unseal, Lightning  
Shushin no Jutsu – Body Flicker Technique

Other Translations:  
Obi – An obi is the Japanese name for the wide cloth belt that's traditionally worn with kimonos and other typical Japanese dress.  
-ouji – This is the honorific for 'prince' and is the male version of hime. Kuma uses it in reference to Toshi to insinuate that he's spoiled.  
Baa-chan – Grandmother. When Naruto uses it, he's usually referring to Tsunade  
Tsuchikage – Literally translates to 'earth shadow' and is the leader of Iwagakure  
Iwa – Literally meaning 'rock' but in the context of this chapter it's used as a reference for Iwagakure (The village hidden in the rocks).


End file.
